Author's notes: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I've been bouncing between editing and writing and brainstorming various things. And getting my mental health dealt with, which has been a fair challenge in and of itself.

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Legaia

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Chapter 49: Flood Waters

"Yes, I promise that you're in no trouble at all." Gi Delilas seemed amused at Shera's concern as he led her through the panicked throngs of palace staff. Shera had barely had enough time to clean herself up once the guards had come through and announced that the danger was over before one of the royal guard, that being Gi Delilas, had come to take her to the palace. "You managed to save the most people from getting injured, and His Majesty wants to thank you for that." Shera blinked at him, though it didn't make her stop frowning. "Though I did hear some fuss earlier, so there may be something else getting dealt with as we arrive."

Gi paused before the large double doors that led to the throne room, and two strained-looking guards opened one of the doors for them to step through. Shera flinched a little at the shouting that came from inside. Surely there was something going on. Gi didn't seem to mind the noise, but then he knew what was going on better than she did. As she stepped in, Shera saw the cause of the fuss, three individuals with chains around their forearms, and held at spearpoint.

"Vahn! Thank Tieg you're safe!" Shera pushed past the soldiers to hug Vahn in relief, causing the shouting to suddenly stop. Vahn leaned his head against her, unable to hug her back due to his restraints.

"Shera, thank goodness. I tried to ask if anyone had seen you, but no one listened." Vahn sounded exhausted, and when Shera pulled back a little to look at him, he certainly looked like he'd had a rougher time of things than she had. She then noticed they were all getting stared at, and took a step back, blushing.

"Well now, this changes things. You know these three, miss?" Shera blinked as the man that addressed her was the king, and nodded, folding her hands in front of her so she would be less inclined to fidget. The king looked to Gi, who had an odd look on his face between amusement and disappointment.

"Yes. They're my travel companions. We got separated in the plaza just after the demonstration became a disaster." The king scratched at his beard and looked at the four of them with a sigh.

"Then you could shed some light on what they have claimed. These Seru they have, are they different from normal Seru?" Shera nodded without a pause.

"When the column broke, I saw that all other Seru users became...well, not themselves. Before I lost track of them, I saw that they were still in control of themselves. I've also seen them hold conversations with their Seru, asking questions and getting answers. They're very intelligent." The king stared at Shera hard, and she tried to keep from fidgeting. She couldn't explain to him that the Ra-Seru were resistant to the Mist because they were a higher form of Seru without revealing they were from the future, where the Mist had been a plague on humanity for years.

"Hrm. You three said that you had been to the Seru world, the place where the Seru originated?" The king's piercing stare turned to Vahn. "And that you slew a Seru that was the source of the Mist?" Shera blinked at that and looked at Vahn. That must have been where the other three had gone while she was herding survivors into hiding.

"Yes. Our Seru, the Ra-Seru, guided us there, having deemed the Mist to be a danger to humanity itself." Shera felt her gut clench. The Mist had been discovered by Conkram and they had been planning on using it as a weapon of war. There was a very real chance that they were going to have some trouble. The king closed his eyes and paced, linking his hands behind his back.

"And such a thing has been publicly announced as the key to victory over Sol," the king mused, sounding chagrined. There was a murmur of dissent, and Shera slid her eyes towards a clump of official looking people, including a young man with steel grey hair and mismatched eyes who looked especially unhappy. "Release the three of them, they have been vouched for." The king gestured towards Vahn, Noa, and Gala, and the soldiers took the chains off of them.

Vahn immediately moved to Shera's side and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her to him in a hug. The officials began to murmur amongst themselves again, and Shera noticed more than one glaring at the four of them. Gala rested a hand on Noa's shoulder to calm her before catching Shera's eye. He looked as strained as she felt.

"Father, they have rendered months of work moot with their actions, surely they should not go free because of this." Shera stiffened as the young man with mismatched eyes spoke up. "The words of a single strange Soren woman with no wings should not wipe clean all of their charges." Vahn's hand tightened on Shera's hip and the two of them glanced between the king and his apparent son.

"Your work was to create a way to move quickly from one place to another as a Door of Light does, Cort. Instead you became obsessed with the Mist, which has been proven to be too dangerous to use. Your king has spoken, leave it be." The king sounded tired, as if he had been expecting to need to defend his decision. The officials looked as though they had swallowed something bitter, but there were no other complaints.

Shera blinked and leaned on Vahn suddenly, feeling alarmingly lightheaded. Of course this got Vahn's attention, and he managed to catch her just as her legs began to give way under her. Thankfully, he didn't make too much fuss over it, just sighed a little.

"You pushed yourself too far, didn't you." Vahn scooped Shera up, and she hid her blushing face against his shoulder. "Is there someplace where she might rest? She's been ill for the past few days." The king looked concerned at Shera's collapsing.

"Yes. Lu Delilas, ensure that some rooms are set aside for our guests." The king looked at the lone girl of the Delilases in time to see her nod and start for the door before turning to look at the officials with an annoyed look on his face.

Vahn carried Shera out of the room, Noa and Gala following after them. Partway down the hall, Vahn frowned down at Shera as she went completely limp in his arms. Meta glowed, and Vahn felt him pour warmth into Shera.

"It'll take a while for some rooms to get set up, with how chaotic everything is right now, but you can wait in here until they're done." Vahn looked back up at that, and blinked as he saw Lu open a door and gesture for them to enter. The woman frowned at Shera after a moment. "Did she faint on the way here?"

"Just now, yes." Vahn stepped through the door and looked around the room until he spotted a long couch. He set Shera down on that, being careful to arrange her so she would be comfortable when she woke up. "She must have had more of a fight than I had hoped for." Vahn sat by Shera's feet, looking at her for a long moment before glancing at Noa and Gala.

"She was still safer than she would have been if she'd gone with us," Gala pointed out as he gingerly sat on a chair that looked like it had never seen dirt. Lu Delilas left, apparently to find a group of maids to get a few rooms clean and ready.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she spent the entire time protecting people," Noa yawned. She sank into a rather squishy chair and looked like she was pondering curling up and falling asleep there. "That's the sort of thing she'd usually do." Vahn smiled a little at that, and rested Meta on Shera's ankle so he could keep giving her warmth.

It felt like barely any time had passed before the door opened again. Vahn wasn't sure that he hadn't dropped off to sleep, as there was no way to tell how much time had actually passed. Noa was still asleep until Gala walked over to her and roused her with a shake to her shoulder. Vahn scooped up Shera again, and smiled slightly to himself as she grumbled a little at being moved.

The maid that had come to show them to their rooms whispered to them that they didn't have to fret about getting their sheets dirty, so they didn't have to clean up before sleeping if they didn't want to. The three bedrooms opened onto the same common space, so Vahn bid Gala and Noa goodnight before tucking Shera into bed. He cleaned himself up briefly before sliding into bed next to Shera, falling asleep almost instantly.

Come morning, Vahn woke as he heard Shera moving around in the bed, and lifted his head out of his pillow to blink around before groaning at the ache in his muscles. Meta must have been busy with fending off nightmares, because he felt all of the aches and pains that he'd earned the day before.

"Morning, Vahn." Shera sounded a bit groggy, but amused. She was sitting up, running her fingers through her hair to try to tame it. She had more than a few bruises of her own starting to show on her, including one that spread across one of her cheeks. "You look about as sore as I feel." Vahn sat up and groaned again as his spine crackled.

"I feel like a blacksmith used me as an anvil," he complained before rubbing the back of his neck. He looked at his hands and winced at the bruises mottling them. "How are you, though? You crashed pretty suddenly." Shera reached over to prod Vahn's arm gently, and he flinched away from her fingers.

"I'm feeling alright, aside from being sore. I think I could use a bath, though." Vahn nodded at that and stood up to stretch, getting several more cracks and pops from his joints. Shera stood as well, resting a hand on the bedside table when her balance wavered.

"I think some food, a bath, and some clean clothes are in order," Vahn joked before walking over to Shera to offer a hand to her. "I'll help you keep from falling over." Shera hesitated before accepting his help, though she didn't lean on him. The two of them headed out to the common room, where there was a tray of breakfast waiting for them. Judging by the steam coming up from the dishes, it had just been delivered from the kitchen.

As usual the four travelers woke up at about the same time when they didn't have to stand watch, so Noa and Gala emerged from their rooms not long after Shera and Vahn sat down to start portioning out the food. Shera waved to them and winced at the many bruises showing on her friends.

"You're looking better," Gala greeted Shera as he sat down at the table in the common room between their bedrooms. He rubbed at a particularly vibrant bruise on his upper arm as he stretched. "A bit less battered than the rest of us seem, but you probably were doing more defensive fighting than we were." Shera nodded and pushed a bowl of food his way.

"I ended up holed up with a group of survivors in a shop. The initial chaos was where I had most of the fighting, though there were some Seru that managed to get into the second floor of the shop that I had to clear out when I went up there to keep watch." Noa made a satisfied noise as she started to shovel food into her mouth, and Shera reached for the bowl of fruit on the table.

"We figured that would be what you'd do. Also, is it just me or is it actually cooler in here than it should be?" Shera blinked at Vahn as he spoke up, and then frowned, tilting her head to the side.

"A little. I'm not feeling as cold, though." She plucked at her Soren clothing. "This has been helping quite a bit." Vahn felt himself relax a little at that, reassured that Shera wasn't in danger of becoming dangerously cold again.

"The palace tends to be kept cooler than most other buildings. Official clothing doesn't exactly allow for the heat very well, with all its layers." Gi Delilas' voice made them all jump, and Shera nearly choked on her mouthful of food. Vahn nearly swore as he turned, and then stopped himself at the last moment, reminding himself that they were in the past, not in the time that the Delilases had been enemies. "Oops, sorry, thought you heard the door open."

To his credit, Gi looked a bit abashed at the fact that he'd startled all of them. He stepped to the side and gestured for the maid following him to enter. She was carrying quite the armload of fabric, and bobbed a curtsy to them before going into the bedrooms to change out the sheets.

"His Majesty thought that you might need a change of clothes, so he told me to come and show you the way out so you can fetch your belongings from the inn you were staying at." Gi grinned at the surprised looks on their faces. "Also, Her Majesty would like to meet with you for lunch." Shera tilted her head to the side at that.

"I'll go get our things, but, uh..." Vahn sounded especially confused. "I didn't think that we'd done anything to merit so much attention." Gi snorted at that and crossed his arms, leaning against the wall.

"The missus there demonstrated the sort of skill that rarely is even seen in veteran soldiers, and the three of you have been acting like you went through something rougher. I'd wager that in one-on-one combat I'd have a hard time with any of the four of you, from what little I saw in the chaos at the demonstration." Vahn frowned a little at that, and glanced at Shera.

"You were there?" None of the four of them had noticed him in the crowd. Granted that they had been primarily focused on the demonstration, but surely they would have noticed a one-time enemy.

"It's my job to protect the royal family, and His Majesty was there, so yes, I was." Shera frowned a little at that and tilted her head to the side. "Anyway, I figure you want to get some clean clothes as soon as possible, so..." Gi pushed off the wall and stretched idly. Vahn nodded and got up, stacking his dirty dishware on top of each other to make a smaller mess.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Shera, Noa, and Gala waved as Vahn followed Gi out of the room. Shera finished her food and stacked her dishes with Vahn's before looking around the room curiously. She hadn't exactly been in the best state the last time she was in the palace, not that that visit had been very long in the past.

"If you'd like, I'll get baths ready now," offered the maid that had been pulling sheets off of the beds. Noa and Shera glanced at each other before nodding, accepting the woman's offer.

By the time Vahn got back from the inn, the maid was done drawing up the baths for them. Shera accepted her bag and pointed out a place for Gi to set the armor that he was carrying before following the maid into the bathroom.

"Your dirty things go in that basket there, we'll clean them and get them back to you as soon as possible." The maid pointed at the basket helpfully, before moving to a cabinet and pulling out a few towels to set them on the stool next to the tub. "Just a moment, I'll get out the soap for you and get out of your way." Shera nodded and moved to the bath, sticking her fingers in to test how warm the water was.

Shera was more than a little surprised by how much dirt came off of her into the water. For such a clean city, she'd picked up a lot of filth in just a single day. Though Seru did tend to shatter into dust upon death. She paused at that thought and looked at the dirty water with a grimace.

Once she was fairly sure she was clean, Shera got out of the tub and dried herself, frowning each time she saw the marks on her arm. She pulled on the sleeve that Cara had made for her once she was dressed, even with a long-sleeved shirt. She didn't feel like it was concealed enough until that sleeve was on.

When Shera went back to her room to leave her bag there, the bed was neatly made and her armor was on an armor stand next to Vahn's. She moved to Vahn's armor and ran her fingers over the scuffs, frowning a little. Even though he had gotten new armor much more recently than she had, there were far more marks of impact on his armor than hers. She was the only one that had bothered to wear their armor the day before, too.

Shera sighed and rubbed at her face before walking into the common area between the three bedrooms, and paused, blinking at the people there. Lu Delilas looked up and gave her a wry smile, leaning against the wall by the door into the hall. The very pregnant woman sitting on one of the couches gave her a much warmer smile.

"I'm sorry. You weren't waiting for very long, were you?" Queen Minea shook her head, looking amused, and gestured for Shera to sit on one of the couches. Shera sat, trying to keep from looking like she was being self-conscious but also trying to not be graceless.

"No, not at all. You're one of the travelers that my husband has opted to honor, yes? I wasn't expecting to see a Soren woman among you." Shera blushed a little at that and fidgeted, trying to keep her eyes from flicking towards Lu Delilas. The queen tilted her head to the side a little at Shera, that polite smile still on her face. "Though by your accent, you were adopted in, weren't you?" Shera blinked, surprised.

"I- yes, I was. Vahn and I grew up in the Drake Kingdom, far to the south, in a fishing village. My older brother was adopted by the Soren after we'd been separated, and I found him again just recently." Queen Minea's expression softened.

"I am glad that the two of you were reunited. Family is a precious thing. So you were adopted into the Soren only recently?" Shera nodded, and some amusement crossed the queen's face. "Would I be correct in thinking that you've been confused as to why everyone has assumed that you are married?" Shera blinked again, still looking confused.

"Yes, actually, I have been confused about that." Lu stifled a laugh, and Shera glanced at her, only to notice that Vahn had finished washing up and had an equally bemused look on his face. "Vahn, hey." The queen turned to look at him, and Vahn bowed to her before walking over to Shera, running his fingers through his wet hair.

"I thought that may have been the case. The Soren don't have many rituals around marriage. About the most they do is give the newlyweds gifts and a house to themselves, at least for a night. Newly married women wear a headband with a particular pattern on it for about a year afterwards." Shera's hand went up to her head, only to feel that she'd left the headband off.

"Wait, so then..." Vahn looked at Shera, an odd look on his face. "They didn't even ask us if we were together." Shera facepalmed, feeling her face heat up. Vahn sighed, and sat next to Shera. "Well, that explains a lot." Shera leaned against Vahn a little, and he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I'm going to smack my brother the next time I see him. He could have at least mentioned it instead of leaving us to be confused." Shera's tone was full of exasperation. Vahn chuckled slightly.

"To be fair, I think the way we've been acting has been leaning towards that for quite some time. Not that anyone back home would believe it." Shera sighed and put her hands in her lap again.

"That is true, I'm just concerned about what my adoptive sister is going to say. She had quite the crush on you when we left home." Vahn blinked at that and looked away, a blush rising on his cheeks.

"Yeah, I had a hard time trying to not encourage that." Shera lifted an eyebrow at him before turning her attention to the door as Gala came through it. "I didn't think that I'd wash up so much faster than you, Gala." The ex-monk shrugged and then frowned slightly as his eyes found the queen.

"Aww, I'm the last one?" Noa sounded a little disappointed as she walked out, braiding her hair over her shoulder. She froze as she saw Queen Minea, and glanced at Vahn and Shera with wide eyes. "Uh..." Shera waved Noa over with a reassuring smile. Queen Minea looked at Noa before turning to look at Lu with an apologetic smile.

"Lu, would you mind standing outside for a little while? I'd like to talk with these four in privacy." Lu frowned at that and looked over the four of them. Gala sank into a chair with a sigh and stretched as Noa wedged herself in between Shera and the arm of the couch.

Lu stared at each of the four travelers for a long moment before stepping out the door and closing it behind her. Queen Minea sighed and seemed to relax, slouching in her chair. She ran her hand over her pregnant belly, smiling wistfully at it as the child inside squirmed.

"There are old legends that the royalty of Conkram were blessed by Tieg, you know." Shera frowned a little at that topic change. "Most people don't believe it anymore, but when we found out that I was with child, my husband told me. The treasure of Conkram, the Seru Flame, is attuned to the royal lineage. If anyone but a member of the royal bloodline carries it, well... The legends aren't clear, but I suppose it would look something like Seru Rejection Syndrome." Shera turned her head to look at Vahn, eyes wide. "That's what happened to you, isn't it?"

All of their eyes turned to Queen Minea as she waited patiently for an answer. None of them spoke for a long moment. Finally, Shera took a shaky breath in and lifted a hand to run her fingers through her hair.

"Yes. H-how did you know?" The queen gave her a tired smile, sighing. Vahn's arm tightened around Shera's waist, hugging her tighter. Shera could feel Noa's tension from where the girl was pressed against her.

"Because the Seru Flame is said to be Tieg's gift to Conkram's royal line for use in humanity's darkest hour, to send heroes to the past. It can only be used in the palace here." Shera frowned a little. "That you would arrive here, in the manner you did, is both a dire omen, and a sign of hope. You have saved Conkram from being swallowed up in the Mist, and yet that cannot be our darkest hour because you have come from our future to this time." Shera shifted a little, uncomfortable. "So. What is it that has brought you to the past?" Shera and Vahn traded glances.

"We need a Nemesis Gem. I...if we tell you why, I don't know what will happen to our future. But in the future, all of those gems have been destroyed." Queen Minea frowned a little at that.

"The Nemesis Gems are a byproduct of creating the gate of the Absolute Fortress. There has yet to be anything placed in the fortress, but..." Minea bit her lower lip as she thought, her eyes troubled. "I will speak with my husband on the matter. He has already guessed as to your purpose in Conkram, and asked me to quietly inquire as to what it is you came for."

"We didn't want to just walk up and publicly ask for it," Shera murmured. "With the war going on, it would be akin to suicide. As it is, things got...complicated when the Mist cleared."

"Things have been far more complicated here in the past than they were in our own time. We aren't used to having to watch our own actions outside of battle," Vahn sighed. "Most of the places we've been to so far have had other concerns than threats from fellow people." Shera nodded in agreement to Vahn's comment.

"I suppose if there is chaos not from humans, we are more likely to band together against that threat than to fight each other." Queen Minea stopped what she was about to say with a slight gasp and then sighed, rubbing her belly as her baby moved. "Ah, she certainly is an active one. I'm glad that I've maids to help care for her once she's born." Shera felt Vahn relax as the topic shifted.

"Have you picked out a name yet?" Gala flicked his eyes towards Noa, who was still staring at her mother with wide eyes, her mouth clamped shut so she wouldn't say something she shouldn't. Queen Minea smiled a little at Gala.

"We've a few names to consider, but haven't decided on any of them specifically yet." Minea's eyes flickered towards Noa briefly as well, but didn't meet her eyes. "Normally it's impossible to tell what gender a child will be before they're born." Shera heard Noa squeak slightly, too softly to carry to the queen. Minea knew that Noa was her daughter. Though to be fair, it wasn't hard to tell that the two were related when they were in the same room.

There was a knock on the door and it opened, Gi and Lu poking their heads in. Gi had a scowl on his face, though it faded as he saw that the queen was unharmed. Shera had to work hard to hide a smile as the bodyguard scolded the queen for insisting that her guard leave the room while she was meeting with strangers. The arrival of lunch thoroughly distracted her from her humor, and she had to check that she wasn't drooling as she took in the sight of the exotic array of food.

The topic of conversation wandered over the course of the meal, but always stayed on Conkram. Despite how curious the queen must have been about their lives, she didn't ask them any questions about themselves. The conversation painted an outwardly peaceful kingdom that was rife with betrayal and backstabbing, but the king and queen genuinely loved each other. The biggest threat to the king's power seemed to be the crown prince, though the queen danced around discussing that so delicately that it seemed to not even exist.

Only after the queen and her bodyguards left did Shera finally let herself relax. She rubbed her right arm through the sleeve her fingers tracing the pattern of the mark scarred on it without noticing. Vahn squeezed her waist for a moment to get her attention as Noa got up to stretch and release the tension she'd been holding in the entire time her mother had been there.

"Well, she certainly gave us all a lot to think about. Though I have to say I'm a bit glad that we won't have to spend too much time here." Shera nodded before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to force herself to relax more.

"Yeah. I can't wait until we can go home. We won't have to worry about so much." Shera ran her fingers through her hair and got up, sighing. "I'm going to go over our armor and weapons to make sure they're in good enough condition for when we go back." She disappeared into the room she shared with Vahn, and only came out when supper was brought to them.

Along with supper came a small box padded with cloth. Inside was a gem that shimmered in every color set into a simple pendant, and a cup-shaped charm on a leather thong. A letter lay underneath the items, informing them that the rest of their reward would be waiting for them in the hall of mirrors before dawn.

The mood after all the food was eaten was somber. Shera seemed especially withdrawn, only paying attention to Vahn when he rested a hand on her shoulder. She offered him a shaky smile before going back to looking over what supplies she had in her bag. Once she was sure of what was in her bag, she went over Vahn's as well, carefully arranging everything so that it was neat but the healing items he carried were in easy reach and sorted according to effect. Only once she was done with that could Vahn talk her into getting some sleep.

None of them slept well that night, even with the Ra-Seru trying to soothe their nightmares. Vahn woke once to Shera sitting up and looking at her hands in the dim light cast by the oil lamp on her bedside table. He watched her for a moment, memorizing the way the flickering light illuminated her before he broke the peace by murmuring her name.

"Shera? Are you angry about...us?" His voice was barely above a whisper, but it still got Shera's attention, and she turned her face to look at him. Her hands dropped slowly into her lap, and she sighed, her eyes sliding away from his.

"No. I'm a little irritated that they didn't ask us beforehand, but...we could be matched much worse, I think. At the very least, we understand each other. And we've been through things together that...that I don't think anyone else could understand." Shera's left hand moved to her right forearm. She was wearing a sleeveless nightgown, so he could see the dark marks coiling around the limb. "I don't think I'm ready for everything that comes with marriage, but...maybe, given enough time..."

Vahn's chest eased at that, and he rolled onto his side, slowly wrapping an arm around Shera's waist. She laid back down as he did so, and rolled towards him, pressing her forehead against his chest. Vahn rested his chin on top of her head, letting out a small sigh of relief. It wasn't what had been eating at her all afternoon, but it was easier to talk about than what they were going to have to face again once they went through the mirror back to the future. No matter what they were going to go through, they were going to do it together.

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End Notes: I have been sitting on this chapter for a while. No one has actually guessed about the thing as of my typing this, which, to be honest, I'm a little surprised about. Next chapter is yet more plot progression.