Author's Note: Sorry for this filler chapter everyone, but… for some reason, I just don't have much of a heart to write the next chapter. That battle is at Talrega and is the next Path of Radiance story battle. For those of you who've played the game, you know what happens there. So, until I can get the heart to write a very, very emotional scene that will be coming up... there'll be this filler arc, saga, whatever.
Wow, it's been a month. Almost. I truly apologize. When spring break comes, I'll really crack down on the story chapter.
Just 'cause I don't want to keep you guys waiting after all. I hate to write a chapter or a filler or an arc, etc. that focuses too much on myself, but… like I said, the next chapter… I just don't have the heart to write it… I know who'll do it (since he volunteered a character on AIM to do it), but that doesn't make it any less harsh to write. Lol, I know that kinda sounds crazy but… yeah.
Oh, and I'm now addicted to Phoenix Wright. I beat the first game in a little less than a week and now I'm trying to get the other three games.
Another ramble is my car needs another repair. Hahaha. I spent $800 at the end of January to get a new axle for my front left tire thing. My fanbelt is still bad and I still need to change the oil. However, that'll have to be on hold in favor of the newest problem I didn't know about. I went to the mechanic to get my oil changed, and they denied it. They said that my radiator hose is expanded and about to burst.
That and my brakes are going bad.
I laugh, because I just got this car in November and the salesman assured me, "There's nothing wrong with it aside from the squeaky fanbelt and the cracked windshield."
What a snake... I shouldn't have trusted him, but my mother kept insisting we could trust him because he was one of her clients. When you work for the city government, handing out housing violations and telling them they have to go to court, your "clients" aren't going to be the happiest people in the world.
... and I can feel myself rolling my eyes at that.
Without further ado, here's the first of a few chapters in the next filler arc, while I ponder how I am to write the next story chapter. I want it to be the best chapter it can be, especially considering what's going to happen in it.
Chapter 38:
Back to reality
It's the night before the battle. We finished eating and most of the company went to bed. Some of us stayed awake while others fell asleep to try to gather energy before the battle.
I myself lay awake for a while. Is the next battle going to be the one where my lie would come true or not? I pondered these questions until darkness and fatigue claimed me.
"Well, tomorrow's going to be a bad day," I heard a voice.
"What?" I said aloud. I was floating in darkness.
"Who's there?" a female voice asked.
"What?" another female voice asked.
"Everyone, say your names!" I said out, almost in a commanding tone.
"Tell me who you are first!" a female voice said.
"Yeah!" two other female voices rang out in harmony.
"I'm John… a member of Greil Mercenaries," I said.
"Oh, commander John!"
"My lord!"
Elincia and Jill? Why are they here in this darkness?
"What is this darkness?" Jill's voice asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," I replied.
"John, Princess Elincia, Jill… who else is here?" another voice asked out.
"Who is that?" I called out.
"Commander Ike, Mist, and Deputy Commander Titania," yet another voice came out.
"Oh, why are you all here?" I asked.
"I don't know. I fell asleep and the next thing I know, I hear a voice and I'm here," I heard Mist say.
"Welcome, John and everyone else who are here. Welcome to this once in a lifetime event," an all too familiar voice said.
"You fucking bastard! YOU KILLED GATRIE!" I shouted out in anger.
"I did not. He was going to die in two days. I merely had him die two days earlier in exchange for your life. His life was doomed with or without your interference," the voice explained.
"Doesn't give you the right to take his life," I said, but in a calmer tone. So… I didn't cause Gatrie's death. He was going to die anyway. Sure, I can logically rationalize it away, but… I still feel bad that he died before his time. No matter how you reason it, it's still wrong.
"Why did you pull all of us here? I can understand myself, but what do the others have to do with it?" I asked out.
"Good question. I was bored watching you guys march to the battlefield. So, I thought I'd get some entertainment—"
"—by fucking with our minds," I completed his sentence.
"Exactly! Well, somewhat. I'm giving you what you wish for, even if it's just temporarily," he said.
"What's that? Is it a magical foot to shove up your ass and the recovery of the lives of Gatrie and Kieran?" I asked angrily. Even in anger, I'm a sarcastic jackass.
"I'm bringing you back to your world… if only temporarily," the voice said.
"What's the catch?" I asked.
"You'll only be there for a short period of time… I decide when you get yanked and pulled back to Tellius," he said.
"Why'd you involve us in this?" Jill demanded.
"Because, you'll be going with him," the voice commented.
"… WHAT?!"
I heard at least three voices say that in unison, followed by a male voice giving a delayed "what?" a second later.
"You will accompany him to his world. I figured you all are so curious about his life, you could just go with him and experience it first-hand," the voice said.
"Um, they won't fit in," I said.
"They won't have to if they don't want to. They can be invisible by pressing a button on their wristwatches they now have," the voice said.
"Um, okay," I said.
"You will be fast forwarded. The date is January 28, 2009. It will be your first day of actual classes and getting work done," the voice said.
"Wait, what do—"
Before I could say anything else, I felt myself slammed into reality. I was in a blue room… it was like an attic of sorts. Through the hallway is a room with two beds. The room was a bit messy, but it looked like a room I'd live in. There was a television attached to a Nintendo Wii, a Nintendo 64, and the original NES.
"Where are we?"
"You guys… you are here!" I exclaimed. I looked around to see Mist, Jill, Elincia, Ike, Karla, and Titania. Wait, Karla?
"Where are we?" Jill asked again.
"I don't know. I've never been in this room before," I said.
"John! You better be getting ready for school soon! Your first class is at 12:30. Don't wait for the last minute!"
That was my mother's voice! It was my mother! I'm home.
"I'm home… I'm home…" I kept repeating to myself. I fell to my knees and buried my face in my hands. For some reason… my eyes were watering up. I was happy but at the same time… I was sad. I couldn't explain it.
"This is kinda cramped," Ike commented. The room was basically an attic. Wait, attic? I live in an attic! We must've moved into my mother's boyfriend's house. That's right. I get my own personal space… the upstairs of the house. The attic! Sweet! My own area of the house that's more than just a bedroom! Everything's cluttered and disorganized, like I expected it to be.
Car keys sitting next to computer keyboard. Printer is on the floor because an electric keyboard is sitting on a table next to the computer desk. That must mean… I got my own keyboard for my music composition.
"John? It's almost 8:00! You better start getting ready or else you might be late!" I heard my mother shout up the stairs.
"Eight o'clock? Wasn't your class at twelve-thirty?" Titania asked.
"That's my mother for you," I replied.
"Already I feel bad for you," Mist said, her face drooping.
"John, the roads are a bit slippery today, so you might want to be careful," I heard another voice say.
"Your father?" Ike asked.
"… no. My parents are not together. They stopped talking to each other when I was nine and separated when I was twelve. They went to court with each other for four years before getting a divorce around the time I turned sixteen. It was drawn out for a long time, I stopped caring. In fact, I didn't even know they had the official divorce until almost a year later, when I was filling out financial aid forms," I said.
"Financial aid forms?" Jill asked.
"It's for college. Even though I go as a full-time student for free thanks to scholarships, I can't even make enough money to pay for transportation, let alone books. My mother can't help because she has to make payments on my house… and my father doesn't pay any child support at all… his lawyer's luckier than Phoenix Wright and more cruel than Von Karma… or so I heard from my mother. Somehow I don't believe that to be totally objective," I said with a sigh.
"Phoenix… von Karma?" Titania asked.
"Nevermind. Video game references," I said.
"Speaking of these video games, may we see them?" Ike asked.
"Sure!" I said. Wait, if I have a Wii, that means I can cram in Radiant Dawn!
"Not so easy!" the voice echoed out.
"What's not so easy?" Ike asked.
"John here was going to play the games that is connected to your world… in an attempt to refresh his memory of your future as well as play the sequel to know even further into the future. If you notice, the game doesn't exist in this world at the moment. I have altered reality to make it so," the voice said.
"That's ludicrous!" Titania exclaimed.
"No… he's right. I'm not an oracle to be screwing with the future as I please," I said. I noticed I was still dressed in my Tellius clothes.
"So, what are these?" Mist pointed to his wrist.
"Wristwatches. They must be what the voice was talking about," I said. "Press the button and you go invisible."
"Oh, okay!" Ike said.
"Can we come with you to school?" Titania asked
"Um, sure," I said.
"Okay then! I guess we get to see what your life is like," Mist said.
OBJECTION! PLOT DEVICE!
There's a copy of Super Smash Brothers Brawl sitting by the television. Fire Emblem must exist, right? Or else the game would be missing a few characters, hah!
"So, you want to play a video game, right?" I asked.
"Sure," they said. I smiled and turned the TV on. No response. It was a blank screen with the words "unusable signal" on the bottom. Hey, it was my old TV. I guess I don't get any TV stations up here. Not that I really need it, since I have the INTERNET!
I turned the Wii on, loaded in Brawl, started the game, and turned it on. I navigated the menus as if I had played it before, which I had not. It hadn't even been released yet. Still, it felt natural to me. I let out a small gasp.
"What is it?" Titania asked.
"They kept Marth! THEY KEPT MARTH! YES, YES! AND JIGGLYPUFF TOO!" I exclaimed with giddy joy. Ever since I had heard Ike was announced, I feared they'd be taking out Marth.
"Jigglypuff?" Elincia said with a slight giggle. "What an odd exclamation."
On the floor sat three other Gamecube controllers. I hooked up the controllers and looked at the group.
"Who wants to try something new?" I asked.
Everyone looked at each other hesitantly. Eventually Elincia, Jill, and Mist took the other three. Elincia picked Zelda. My, she has good taste. Jill picked Lucario. Who the hell is Lucario and why is he in here? Mist picked Sonic.
Wait, Sonic?
Sonic?
SONIC?!
He's in Brawl?!
HE'S IN BRAWL?
Oh god, I don't remember. Man, it's been a while since I was here on Earth. Was he announced? One'd think a big video game geek such as myself would have remembered that.
I turned on my computer. Oh, sweet! I have a new computer!
Blah, it's a dell. System specs check!
4 GB of ram and 2.4 GHz? Holy shit, who bought this?
It got onto my AOL Instant messenger and logged in automatically.
"FoxwolfJackson89"?
What kind of retarded screen name is that? Oh well. I guess living my life without being in war and murdering people has not quite matured me yet.
God, this room's a mess.
"So, how do we play?" Elincia asked.
"Um, okay," I said as I turned back to the TV. I'll further analyze the specs of this new computer to see how sweet it is when I finish teaching the girls how to play. I picked Marth, as was customary of me, and I picked Final Destination as the stage.
I noticed a Nintendo DS as the loading screen was loading the battle. I looked at the cartridge to see Pokemon Diamond as my only DS game. Sticking out the bottom of it was Pokemon Ruby. Still quite the nerd, I appear to be.
"Okay, here's the basics," I said as the screen loaded.
I spent the next thirty minutes explaining the game, the controls, and the buttons to the girls... then let them try to get me on a three-on-one. When they charged me, I taught them the art of shielding and dodging. Sidestep and roll.
"That looks interesting," Ike commented. Karla merely watched the screen carefully, watching Marth's every move. That's kinda unnerving. Is she trying to learn his moves?
The three of them started working together, getting moves, and soon they were after me. Wow, those girls pick up FAST!
"Whoa, there. You three pick up too fast. You're pushing a line here. I can only hold back so much before I just get tempted by the challenge and go all out," I said
"Then do that! This game's easy once you get the hang of it," Elincia said.
"We're not afraid!" Mist said courageously.
"Give us your best," Jill encouraged.
A minute later, those two would regret their words as I took out two of Elincia's three lives, one of Mist, and one of Jill. I smiled a bit. As guilty as I feel, I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of pleasure at actually doing something that I didn't suck at.
After all these past few months of struggling and fighting and doing everything in my power to even keep up with everyone and failing miserably, it felt kinda good that I was finally in territory I knew well.
Those three were just watching me with utmost disbelief.
"How did you do all that... and... not... get knocked out or only hit once," Mist asked me.
"Watch your opponents. That's one mistake new players make. They get comfortable with certain moves and tend to have a slight bias toward that move as opposed to the other moves available. With that, I was able to predict your moves and counter accordingly," I said.
"Wow, there's more to it than I thought," Mist said.
"I was doing the same thing, but... I wasn't able to predict your moves," Jill said.
"I've practiced with this character for a long time. I know most of his moves by heart... and LOVE to mix and match my attacks based on my whims. I don't use a set formula and strategy for fighting. I use the attack my whim guides me to do. Essentially, sporadic, random, and unpredictable. That's my play style. I'm neither pure offense, nor pure defense," I replied.
"That sounds like... you," Mist said as she paused. She got eliminated. Elincia managed to land a hit on me... which, oddly enough, was the heel attack in midair. I would've applauded her for hitting me with that. I was distracted by Jill and that friggin' Lucario.
After that, I gave the controller to Ike and left it to the girls to teach him how to play. Ike picked, almost unsurprisingly, Link. I got on messenger to see a few unfamiliar screen names online. Did I meet new people if I had stayed alive?
Staying alive.
This was a triumph!
I'm making a note here, huge success!
... talk about random songs playing in my head.
I have to do it.
I went to YouTube and typed in "rickroll" and put the song on. I'm fully aware that they won't get it, but I put the song on anyway.
"Okay, guys, here's a concept I'm going to explain. I really, really, really hope this doesn't quite boggle your head or make you go crazy trying to figure it out," I said.
"Try me," Karla replied.
"Okay, this world doesn't have magic. No goddess Ashera, no magic... everything we've had to do, we do through science and technology," I explained.
"Explains all this stuff that you have going on," Karla commented.
"This is a computer. Um, best way to describe it is that it holds stuff like games, music, information... and a bunch of other stuff that even I don't know about yet. You turn it on and access the information you want," I said.
"So, this convuser is a thing that you use for information and stuff," Ike mused.
"Computer. Com. Pu. Ter," I corrected him.
"Okay..." Ike said, scratching his head. Luckily, he was the only one lost.
"Now, this computer doesn't hold everything. It has limited space. I'd say it roughly has enough space to fill about ten or so libraries... assuming you fill it with information. Knowing my old self..." I paused as I glanced at the desktop. "Yeah, it's full of video games."
"Such a waste of space. If it's for information, use it for information," Karla commented.
"Hey, I have essays and schoolwork assignments on here too. Don't be so critical," I replied defensively.
"Okay, so, how is this supposed to boggle our heads?" Karla asked.
"It is..." Ike replied.
"Well, because I'm about to explain the concept of the Internet," I replied, ignoring Ike. He's beyond hope.
"Okay, here we go. There is something called the Internet. Every person who pays companies a certain amount of money a month can go on the internet. It's basically a worldwide network. My computer here can go onto the internet and access any information I want. Hence why my computer itself is devoid of anything besides games," I said.
"That makes sense," Karla said.
We passed the next few hours before I had to head to college with more video games and the internet. The girls and Ike seemed absolutely hooked onto Brawl. Their reaction times were pretty good and they picked up quickly. Within two or three hours, I couldn't go three-on-one against them any more. Ike and Elincia, especially picked up fast. Those two seemed to have a rivalry going on.
Karla, however, seemed more interested in the internet. She asked me if there was a website that I could find something for her. I went to Google and gave the chair up to her. Some people type with their hands because they know how to. Some people type with two fingers 'cause they don't know how to.
Karla typed with one finger, and it was her middle finger. After two minutes and only getting "advan" typed, I knew I had to step in.
"What do you need typed?" I asked Karla.
"Advanced Sword Techniques," Karla replied.
"Oh, let me find a good site for you," I replied.
With that, I typed it in in the blink of an eye. Eh-heh, sorry Karla. I could see her look incredulously at me at the speed I put it in. Don't feel bad, Karla. My 90-100 GWAM even scares some people here in this world.
I found a site not named Wikipedia and showed it to her. I then showed her how to use the mouse and the keyboard and so on and so forth. While they were busy, I got some clothes, went downstairs, took a shower, and returned back upstairs. Okay, according to the printed schedule, I had class at 12:30 to 2:00. I should leave here at 11:30 then... that's in about an hour and a half. I'll take these guys clothes shopping then. I then had piano lessons from 2:00 to 3:00. I opened the piano book and saw I had marked the pages to practice. Well, despite the disorganized room, I was still pretty organized. Go me!
Bach invention, piano sonata by Beethoven, and Knight Rupert by Schumann? Oh dear, they don't look too easy, but... I guess I can try. I'm not THAT rusty, am I? I see a keyboard sitting in the room and turn it on. I felt all attention turn to me as I pressed a key.
"What the hell was that!" I heard Jill exclaim.
"It's, um, a keyboard. It's like a piano, only smaller and runs by electricity. I think I explained electricity to you all once or twice before," I said with a sheepish grin.
"You play piano?" Elincia asked, curiously.
"Among other things," I replied.
"I understand," Ike said, clearly lying.
"Well, we better go. I'm going to take you all clothes shopping with this thing," I said as I held up a credit card. While on the computer, I checked my bank account to see I had a credit limit of $700 and I had plenty of money in my account. Well, I see I actually got a job and some money now.
Little did I know most of that money and credit would be disappearing to two major car repairs. Ah, ignorance is bliss.
We went downstairs, I grabbed my bacon wallet and my keys and my laptop and my schoolbooks, and I went outside. They soon followed.
No way. That's my car?
It was a red sports car. It was a 1995 Dodge Avenger according to the book inside the car. Shit, my older car would've had trouble fitting everyone in it, but this is insane. It's small!
"Guys, um... I think you're going to have to cram into the car here," I said, praying that the backseat was, for once in my life, clean. It was clean! Thank goodness. My old car's back seat was so full of junk.
"Okay... one person gets to be lucky and sits in the passenger seat. Everyone else has to cram in the back," I said.
"Who gets to be in the front?" Mist asked.
"Ike does," I replied.
"Why Ike?" Jill asked.
"Would you rather he was squeezed with the rest of you in the back seat?" I asked. Silence for reply.
"Exactly."
"No lesbian orgies either," a small voice in my head cackled. Damn that voice! That's gonna be stuck in my head for the drive to the closest Salvation Army and Goodwill. I don't have the money to pay for their clothes any other way.
"Ah shit..." I said as I sat in the driver's seat.
"What?" Ike asked, the last one into the car. I could tell the girls were pretty upset about being squished in the back. Consequently, to avoid getting in trouble with the cops, I told them to be invisible. Ike included.
"This is a manual transmission car," I said.
"Meaning?" Ike said.
"Um, meaning, I have to control it myself rather than letting the system control it," I replied.
"What?" Ike asked.
"Er, I don't know how to put it in a way you can understand. Sorry," I replied.
"It's fine," he replied. With that, I pushed the clutch down, started the car, and carefully put it in reverse. Okay, let's see if I still remember what dad taught me.
The car jerked and stalled.
"Do you know how to operate this contraption?" Titania asked.
"Not this kind, no. My other self must have, but I only know the basics," I replied sheepishly.
"We are going to die, aren't we?" Karla asked.
"No, don't even begin to think that," I replied.
After ten minutes of trial and error, I managed to get the hang of manual again and pulled out of my driveway. After a thirty minute drive, in which case everyone was fearful of the speed I was going, I arrived at a Wawa gas station. Along the way up, I tried to explain some basics of this world. It's so weird trying to explain what we take for granted as common sense. Actually, it's rather hard. I guess now I'm beginning to appreciate just how helpful the mercenaries were in teaching me all about the culture of Tellius.
I went to the ATM and checked the checking account. Nice! Four hundred dollars. I withdrew a hundred for the clothes shopping. My next stop was the closest Goodwill, which was only a five minute drive from the college and a two minute drive from the gas station.
Hoping not to create a stir, I had everyone appear into view one at a time and filter into the store one by one. I see red-tagged items are fifty percent off, so I think I'd be safe at drawing the line at $100.
At about fifteen minutes before my class had to start, I had to do what few people braved to do. I tapped Jill on the shoulder.
"Yeah?" she asked me.
"Um, we have to go soon," I replied.
"I'm not done yet, though!" she protested.
"I'm going to be late," I replied.
"... okay, fine," Jill replied.
With that note in mind, everyone brought their clothes to the shopping cart and I went to the cash register. It came to about eighty seven dollars. Cool, that's thirteen dollars in change, not to mention the debit card with three hundred dollars and the credit card with a seven hundred dollar credit limit.
Time to go to class. I drove everyone (safely) to the college. Time for my first class of the day.
Intro to Microcomputers.
I got into the classroom and sat down in the back-right corner. Everyone else, invisible, started standing in various parts of the room. I realized that even though they were invisible, I could still see them. That was cool.
A blonde girl walked into the classroom, sat next to me, and said, "Hey there, what's up?"
"Er, nothing," I said awkwardly in reply. Who is this girl?
"This class is such a bullshit class, wouldn't you agree?" the girl asked.
"Er, maybe," I said hesitantly in reply.
"I mean, last class... we went over the rules and talked about what we were going to do in this class today," she said in a bored tone.
"That's... lovely," I said in partial sarcasm.
"What?" Ike asked. I coughed to silence him.
All we did was learn how to make files, copy and paste, and send e-mails in class that day. I could see the mercenaries struggling to keep up, while Elincia watched me manipulate the computer as if it were nothing. Alt+Tab, Ctrl+Tab, Windows Key+D, etc. Escape the teacher's view while playing a Phoenix Wright emulator that I found on my camera. It was attached to the computer. I guess my cheap ass in this world couldn't be assed to buy a USB flash drive, so he used his camera as his USB drive. Clever, but cheap.
Class was over and I headed over to the cafeteria. Food was of the essence. I got a meal bigger than I normally would get, but I didn't eat much of any of it. I sat in the corner, pulled out the laptop, and slid the food over to the Mercenaries. I told them quietly (as to not attract attention to myself) to check before eating.
A rather short guy with black and green hair walked over. He seemed to be quite fidgety.
"Yo, John. You got your magic deck with you today?" he asked.
"Magic... deck?" I asked him back.
"Magic the Gathering, of course," he said.
"Oh, er, no, sorry," I said back with a slight bow... or as much of a bow as I could muster while sitting.
"Ah, okay. Well, rumor on the streets says you got new cards," he said.
"Hey, Eddie, come here. We need your advice," someone from the table over said.
"Hey, there you are, John!" a voice said. I looked over to see two of my friends sitting in the booth next to me. I usually refer to them as Scorpio and Abbot. A girl was sitting in-between them. She looked a bit familiar but I can't place my finger on it.
"John," she said to me with a small smile. "Want to go out with me for a smoke?"
"Um, no thanks," I replied.
"Well, if you ever want to again, just ask," she said.
Again? Again?! What? Did I smoke before with her? What the HELL did my other self get into?!
"Hey, hey, check this out!" Abbot said to me.
"What?" I asked back.
"The new Team Fortress 2 update! It's for your favorite class, the scout," he said with a smile.
"I, um, that's cool! I'll check it out later guys... I'm not feeling good," I said.
"We noticed. You ate all that food over there in record time," Scorpio said.
"Er, yeah... about that, I was really hungry," I said.
"We didn't even see you eat it!" they both said.
"I'm a fast eater," I said with my trademark sheepish smile.
"..." both were silent.
"Well, I'm off. See you later!" I said cheerfully.
I escaped the cafeteria, shut down the computer, and trudged to the complete opposite side of the campus where the music building was. Of course the music students get screwed, but what else is new? I looked at my watch. It was 1:45 PM. Computer class got let out early, which is why I was able to make a cafeteria stop before my piano lesson.
I went into a music practice room with the mercenaries following me. They have to honestly shadow me like that? Seriously.
I pulled out the piano book I was supposed to be practicing and looked at the songs earmarked. A Bach two-part invention, a Beethoven sonata, and Knight Rupert by Schumann.
Well, time to start on the Bach piece. At the very moment I started, all the mercenaries stopped and started to watch me play the piece. It wasn't that great, but it was still okay.
"You... can play," Ike commented.
"Yeah, been playing since I was four. Want to see what else I can do?" I asked.
"Um, sure," Titania said. I need a grand, slow, and powerful beginning. Ah yes, the intro to Dancing Mad. I played that for a bit, then lead over into a development or exposition or transition or whatever you call it. I modulated from C minor to G minor and went into the the Hyrule Temple theme from Melee. I transitioned from that and slowed down to the piano version of Terra's Theme from Final Fantasy 6. After that, I did a modulation straight from G minor to A major and did Fatalize from Tales of Symphonia.
After a few more songs, I went back to Dancing Mad and just ended on a tremolo of the lowest C's on the piano... and faded off.
"That's great," Ike said. Speechless. I had that effect on people in high school. Glad to see I can still do that to people.
My piano teacher was also my music theory teacher, as well as my ear training and sight singing teacher. Wonderful.
After a lesson, where I got whipped pretty badly into shape, I left the lesson. Wow, I didn't really I was that far off on piano. I have horrible technique. Great, that's going to be something I'll have to work out. Fourteen years of playing it wrong will be hard to knock out of me.
I killed time before my lesson. My friend Kris couldn't make the band rehearsals today. Speaking of band rehearsals, I only had a bass trombone in the trunk of my car. I assume that's my instrument for the band, then.
Then came Music Theory. That was pretty cool. Then came the Ear Training and Sight Singing class. That was not cool. I screwed up pretty badly in that. Now was a break to kill time before Concert Band started.
Oh well. I guess you can't win 'em all.
"Time to go back..." the voice said in my ear.
"... okay," I said to myself. I looked at the rest of the mercenaries. They must've heard the voice too. Time to return.
Back to my real home. Back... to Tellius.
Author's Note: I have the insane urge to get to the school and re-learn Fatalize so I can do that medley I mentioned earlier in the fic. Also, if you check my profile (my penname is FoxwolfJackson), there's a story called "Truth and Reconciliation". I honestly forget where the name comes from, but it's standing out in my mind. The role-play that goes on my message board, I remade into a story and uploaded it to. I'll be putting up chapters as the roleplay progresses.
BTW, this was supposed to be a filler arc, but... it just felt weird writing this chapter, so, it'll be a one-chapter filler.
I know this was a pretty crappy chapter. I promise, when I get the next chapter written, you won't regret the wait. Next chapter: "Do or Die". Here's a small clip from it (since I made you guys wait so long).
I looked over to Jill. She had flown on ahead to meet with the commander and confront the person about the heartless actions of flooding the village. She seems to be flying back. In fact, it appears she was flying toward me.
"Jill!" I shouted out with a smile. She rushed ahead and I thought she might have died from everyone ambushing her.
"Do not talk to me, Crimean scum!" she shouted. She flew down at me at breakneck speed and swung at me with her killer axe. I barely managed to put up a hasty fire shield and sidestep the blade.
However, the shield was frail and shattered under the attack. Luckily I sidestepped or I would have had a chest full of axe blade. Instead, the handle of the weapon caught me under the arms and I flew into the air, hanging on by the handle of her weapon.
"Let go and die!" Jill shouted at me. Her voice... it was full of pain, hurt, sorrow, and confusion.
"Jill... why?!" I asked her in a panicked tone. She was flying higher and higher.
"My father's up ahead. He would not have done this atrocious act unless he believed he had to. He would not compromise his morals or his pride as a soldier to do this for a village unless he had a good reason to. He broke his pride and his morals to stop you Crimeans. Daein isn't the country in the wrong! You are!" she said as she let go of the axe handle. She was going higher. I was... floating in the air for a second. Not for long. I could see the ground coming closer and closer and closer.
This is it...
This... is where I die.
Crimea, I did my very best to try to liberate you. Ike, you'll have to take it from here. I quickly tried to break my fall by casting the strongest fire shield I could, as well as a cushion around my body to try to pad my fall. I stopped spinning in the air. I saw Jill's axe above me flying down with me. Great, when I hit the ground, that thing would impale me.
The ground is growing; the ground is growing! DAMN! FUCK! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! Please, someone! Anyone! Anything! Help me! Helpp!! Marcia and Tanith and Cormag were all too busy taking care of the Wyverns to notice.
The ground was rapidly approaching. It was coming closer. Closer! Karla... I'm sorry. Mist, do your best. Elincia, be a great queen. Ike, become the hero I know you'll be. Jill... Jill... please... for my sake... open your eyes and see the truth once more. Here comes the ground. I'm ready... to accept my fate. Three... two... one...
Crash! My shield broke almost instantaneously, and my cushion only absorbed part of the blow. The last thing I felt was an immense surge of pain in my chest... then darkness.