Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I finally finish writing another chapter to this story. And, as promised, it's something a little different than usual. I'm sure you'll all enjoy it just the same, though. So, without much further ado, happy reading!

Disclaimer

Dragon Quest IX is the property of Square Enix and not me and probably not you.

What I do own are my own original characters, including, but not limited to, Michael, Jessica, Allison, and Hope, as well as some of the crazy things that happen to them.

Reviews:

xdaath: Hope does seem to be having a fair bit of bad luck, isn't she? I'm sure she'll be fine, though, right? Right?

RedMageKnight: Okay, so, first of all, I will admit that I mistakenly labeled the Bang family of spells as earth-elemented, which they are not. However, I wouldn't act so smug correcting someone when you yourself are also wrong. The Bang spells aren't fire-elemented, either. They're blast-elemented. And, for what it's worth, the earth element does exist in DQIX via the abilities Crackerwhack, Stone's Throw, Boulder Toss, Gold Rush, and Funeral Fource.

outcast247: I'm happy to write publish another chapter! And, yeah, Brunhild is mean. Hopefully, Hope will put her in her place one day.

Guest (sheaflower98?): No.


Act 2 – Part 15: The Depths of Love

(Hope's POV)

As Misslei dragged me into the royal baths, it became clear that this room was the source of whatever had caused all of that noise and shaking earlier. Numerous palm trees lay splintered on the ground, mixed in with piles of fallen rubble and damaged furniture. The pools themselves were nearly empty, having drained through a massive hole in the corner of the room. Many of the handmaidens were off to the side, silently treating each other's wounds or crying in shock. A handful of royal guards stood around the edge of the large hole, having a hushed conversation between them while looking down into it.

Taking in the dismal state of the baths, Misslei hurried over and began questioning the guards. "I heard Her Majesty was in peril, and I came as quickly as my legs would carry me. What happened? You must tell me!" she asked.

The guards turned to look at us before one answered. "His Dryness turned into a hulking great monster! And then he picked up the Queen and carried her off down the well over yonder!"

"Oh, this is terrible!" Misslei gasped.

A handmaiden sitting against the wall nearby laughed, catching our attention. "Well, it seems she finally got her just deserts!" she cackled. "I am sure most of us would be happy if she stayed gone! Especially you, Misslei."

"I would never!" Misslei countered the accusation. "Surely not all of you feel this way…" she begged, but as we turned and looked around the room, not a single woman was able to challenge the handmaiden's claim. "I…I can't believe it…" she breathed.

"I-It is surely punishment for her self-centered behavior!" another handmaiden defended. "She is being punished by the Almighty!"

Misslei quietly groaned to herself. "Has anyone here made any attempt to rescue Her Majesty?"

"Those three wanderers who had helped find His Dryness have gone after them, but I suspect they're more concerned about recovering that evil fruit than rescuing Her Highness," one of the guards answered. She must have been referring to Michael's group, but surely even he wouldn't have fallen to such levels of animosity against the queen, would he?

Suddenly, a resolved look appeared on Misslei's face. "Then I know what I must do," she stated, determined. "Hope, will you please help me?"

"Help you with what?" I asked, unsure of what she was requesting.

She stepped closer to me and whispered so only I could hear what she said next. "Help me rescue Her Majesty! If she is not brought to safety, she may never mend her ways. We must help her!"

"But… Why me?" I asked.

"Well, you're a paladin, aren't you?"

"I… I…" I didn't know what to say.

"What's wrong, Miss Hope?" Phil asked. "Of course you are! Plus, this is the perfect chance to show Brunhild and Willow just how wrong they are about us. I bet they've never rescued a queen."

I couldn't help but smile at Phil's encouragement. "You're right, I am a paladin. And it would be my honor to help rescue Her Majesty."

"Yes!" Misslei cheered, surprising me by suddenly pulling me into a hug. "I knew I could count on you! Let's go," she said, grabbing my arm and leading me down the hole into the sewers below.

"What are you doing?" one of the guards asked Misslei, surprised.

"Your job."


Despite supposedly being sewers, the plumbed depths beneath the palace were shockingly dry. The only water we could find sat in small puddles around a few drains, most of which likely came from the baths above. The other drains were mostly all covered in large piles of sand. The large stone chambers were oppressively silent, save for the echo of our own footsteps and our ongoing conversation.

"I had no idea that Gleeba was the ancestral home of paladins," I admitted.

"It's not a very well-known fact these days," Misslei explained, "but that's why there are so many paladins located here in Gleeba. I was honestly kind of surprised to find out you weren't Gleeban."

"Well, since you know that fact, do you also happen to be a paladin?" I asked.

"Oh, heavens, no," she laughed. "I'm afraid I've stumbled onto the path of the luminary instead, which Gleeba actually also happens to be the ancestral home of. Now, don't get me wrong – I'm not planning on becoming a belly-dancer or anything," Misslei defended, "I just love the fancy clothes that luminaries get to wear."

"They do get to wear some cute outfits," I agreed, quietly laughing with her.

"In all seriousness, though, my grandfather was actually a paladin, and he was the one that told me all kinds of interesting things about them."

"What was he like, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked, interested.

"I was really young, so I don't remember too much. I do remember that he was always incredibly sweet and kind, though, and he knew all kinds of random trivia facts. He would tell me a new one every time I saw him. He claimed that all of his facts came from a soul spirit he used to have named Paige. She apparently loved reading."

"…used to have," I sighed, suddenly feeling down again.

"Well, yeah," Misslei confirmed. "All paladins are supposed to lose their soul spirits eventually, aren't they?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you still have yours?"

"Of course I do!" I exclaimed. "His name is Phil and he's my best friend."

"That's awesome!" Misslei cheered. "It's nice to meet you, Phil, even though I can't see or hear you."

"It's nice to meet you, too," Phil greeted from where he was sitting on my shoulder.

"He says it's nice to meet you, too," I passed on.

"What's it like, having a soul spirit? I imagine it must be quite helpful."

"Oh, it is. It's like having an extra set of eyes and ears around at all times. Even when I'm sleeping, Phil will keep watch just in case something happens. Plus, it's just nice always having someone around to talk to."

"You know, it's actually interesting you mention that, because-"

"Duck!"

Misslei was cut-off with a short shriek as I grabbed her and pulled her onto the floor, just narrowly avoiding a medium-sized fireball that sailed right through where we were standing seconds before.

"Thanks for the warning, Phil," I said as I jumped back to my feet and grabbed my hammer. "Stay behind me, Misslei," I ordered as I looked for the source of the attack. I quickly raised my shield as another fireball flew out of a dimly lit part of the chamber. Deflecting the spell away, I ran over to where it came from, but found nothing.

"Behind you!"

Spinning around, I raised my shield just in time to block a claw swipe from a Purrestidigitator. Swinging my hammer from behind my shield, I knocked the monster away with a loud hiss. Getting back to its feet, it retaliated with another Frizzle. I was ready for this one, though, and knocked it back to its owner with my hammer. The Purrestidigitator yelped one last time before getting blasted by its own spell and collapsing into the usual pile of purple dust.

"Great job, Hope!" Misslei cheered from where she was standing. "I knew you were the right person to ask to come with me."

"You did great, Miss Hope!" Phil praised. "Master would be proud of how much you've grown."

"Luckily, that was just one monster," I explained. "We should move on before more show up."

"Lead the way, Lady Paladin," Misslei smiled.

"Please don't call me that," I asked, blushing, but still returning the smile.


A short while later, we found a staircase that led to a small study, with bookshelf-lined walls and a small desk sitting in the middle; though what immediately caught my attention was an ornately dressed ghost standing in the corner. Not wanting to freak Misslei out, I chose not to mention it.

"This is a strange place to find hidden in the sewers," Misslei remarked. "It must've been one of King Aqueus' private reading rooms." The ghost raised his head as Misslei mentioned the former king.

"I have a feeling you might be right."

"Actually, that reminds me. Earlier, before that monster attacked us, when you mentioned how it was nice always have Phil around to talk to, I was trying to say that Her Majesty is very much the same way."

"Really?" I asked, confused.

Misslei nodded. "When she was younger, Her Majesty's father was so busy, he would often leave her starved of company for hour upon hour."

The ghost now seemed fully focused on the current conversation, and started muttering to himself, likely unaware that I could sense him. "I sought only recognition as a great king… I gave little thought or time to my poor daughter…"

"It was His Dryness who helped her through all the hours alone," Misslei continued, "much like how Phil is always with you. And, like Phil, His Dryness is Her Majesty's best friend, but I'm afraid he is also her only friend."

"Her selfishness… Her willfulness… Her inability to relate to others…" the ghost continued muttering. "The blame for these unfortunate traits lies at my door…"

"And now she has been betrayed by her most trusted friend…" Misslei sighed. "And abandoned by those sworn to serve and protect her."

"But not you?" I asked.

"No," Misslei asserted. "I am one of the few that still knows, or at least cares, about Her Majesty's past, and I will not hold her responsible for circumstances out of her control. Not while I can still try to help her. I need her to know that she is not alone in this world."

"Rescue my daughter… from that beast… from herself… my final wish…"


After our time in the hidden study, we hurried through the rest of the sewers with a renewed resolve. The descent into the lowest levels of the depths were rather uneventful and passed in thoughtful silence. Phil seemed particularly lost in thought, which was really unusual for him and had me somewhat concerned. I'd have to ask him about it later, though, as we had to focus on our current mission.

As we worked our way through a particularly complex, maze-like chamber, we finally heard something coming from deeper within. "S-Someone help me!" a female voice shouted. "I demand to be rescued this instant!"

"That's Her Majesty!" Misslei gasped. "Come on, we have to hurry!" she demanded as she grabbed my arm once more and pulled me towards the source of the sound.

We ultimately ended up before a hole in the floor with a ladder that led to an even lower level of this twisted dungeon. I had no idea if it was the deepest level or not but, based on the commotion coming from beyond the darkness, it appeared to be as deep as we had to go.

"It sounds like they've already gotten started," I remarked.

"Then we have no time to waste," Misslei stated as she turned and started climbing down the ladder.

"Phil, you go on ahead and make sure it's safe for us at the bottom," I guided while also climbing onto the ladder. "I'll be right behind Misslei."

"Yes, ma'am!" Phil chirped before flying off below us.

We climbed down the ladder as quickly as we could, and soon found ourselves in another chamber, this one filled with piles of rubble. I could now clearly hear the fight happening around the corner, with the sound of steel and magic mixing with the dragon's roar we had heard all the way back at the palace.

"Come on," Misslei directed, sneaking her way behind a nearby rubble pile. "Let's try to see what's going on. I hope Her Majesty is still okay…" she muttered. Kneeling down next to her, we peeked over the stones to see what was going on. As I had expected, Michael, Jessica, Allison, and even Stella were already down here, and were currently engaged in battle against a massive yellow dragon with a large purple bow around its neck. "Is…Is that his Dryness?" Misslei gasped, horrified. "What happened to him?"

"I have no idea, but he's putting up quite the fight," I observed, watching as the dragon let out a Flame Breath, melting a Crackle that Jessica had just cast.

"Well, while they're keeping that thing distracted, we need to find Her Majesty. Do you see her anywhere?"

"Phil?"

"One sec." Phil carefully flew around the corner before quickly coming back. "She's in the back of the chamber."

Squinting in the direction that Phil had indicated, I was just able to make out the figure of the queen, cowering in the shadows. "She's over there," I pointed out to Misslei.

"She looks terrified," Misslei lamented, finding her for herself. "We have to go help her." I nodded, and she started making her way to the next pile of rubble, trying to stay in cover.

I started following after her when another explosion from the battle shook the entire chamber. Misslei shrieked as a chunk of the ceiling fell between us, separating us. "Misslei, are you okay!?" I asked, trying to see over the large pile.

"I'm fine!" I heard her answer from the other side of the pile. "I'm going to continue on to Her Majesty."

"Be careful," I advised. "I'll…" I paused, unsure of how to continue.

"Miss Hope?" Phil asked.

I nodded, swallowed my doubt, and continued. "I'll help buy you some time."

"You be careful, too, okay?"

Nodding mostly to reassure myself, I cautiously stepped to the edge of the shadows I was hiding in. The golden dragon had seemingly started to gain the upper hand, as it had pushed the others into a corner. "We need to get his attention," I decided.

"Leave it to me!" Phil volunteered.

"Are you sure?" I asked, concerned.

"I totally got this!" Phil reassured. "Just watch!" Phil quickly flew over to His Dryness, bobbing excitedly in front of his face. "Hi!" he cheerfully greeted, surprising not only the dragon, but also Michael and the others, with his sudden appearance.

"Ohhh lllumme, what now?" the large dragon groaned.

"Sorry I'm late," Phil apologized, "but I just got here. What's going on?"

His Dryness just stared in silence for a couple of moments before reluctantly answering. "These are the travelllers who lllifted me up and lllugged me back when I was lllaying lllow in that tree!"

"Oh…okay…" Phil responded, clearly not understanding what he was referring to.

"They nearllly spoillled my plllans to use that fruit to realllize my willldest dreams!"

"Wait, fruit?" Phil asked, even more confused.

"Yes. My animalll instincts tollld me that if I feasted on its flllesh, my body would remodelll itselllf into a fine mortalll form. And how right they were! Just lllook at me! Am I not the most alluring lllittle fellllow you ever lllaid eyes on?"

"Uh…" Phil answered, speechless.

"It may have worked a lllittle too welll, I fear. My darllling Vollluptua seems alllmost too overwhelllmed to lllook at me…" the dragon lamented.

"Can't imagine why…" Phil commented.

"Don't try to reason with him," Stella quietly mentioned, fluttering up near Phil. "The poor idiot thinks he's turned into a mortal. It's lucky there's no mirrors nearby."

"Pah, never mind," His Dryness dismissed. "Telll me, what are you doing here?" he asked of Phil. "Have you come to intrude on the greatest lllove that ever lllived: that between my lllordllly selllf and the llluscious Vollluptua?"

"Oh, so you've taken a shining to the Queen?" Phil asked. "That's nice and all, but isn't that a little hard, considering you're a lizard?"

"LLLIES!" the dragon roared. "I am no lllizard! I am finally a mortalll, and our lllove can lllive at lllast! I will not tolllerate these intrusions into our lllove nest! I will make you alll llleave me and my bellloved allloooone!"

While Phil kept His Dryness distracted, I quietly sneaked up behind it. Winding up my hammer, I unleashed a Heart Breaker onto his backside. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have the desired effect, and the large beast turned to glare down at me instead. "Uh… Hi?" I meekly greeted, forcing a smile. He didn't seem interested in chatting anymore, responding instead with a bone-chilling War Cry in my face before swiping at me with his claws. My armor thankfully took most of the hit, but it still knocked me back several feet.

The dragon roared and charged at me again, but stopped, hissing in pain, as Michael jumped at him from behind with a Dragon Slash. Taking advantage of this, I ran at His Dryness and hit him once again with my hammer while Jessica's Crackle impacted with his face.

The dragon quickly spun in place, swiping the floor with his tail and forcing Michael and myself to jump back to avoid being tripped. Finally having space to breath, the beast opened its fangs and released his fiery breath at me. I lifted my shield over my face, preparing to get burned, but felt nothing as I watched the flames go around me, courtesy of a well-timed Insulate spell cast by Allison.

Lowering my shield, I locked eyes with Michael on the other side of His Dryness and, with a silent nod, we both charged at the monster in the middle, hitting him with a Heart Breaker/Dragon Slash combo. The dragon staggered backwards from the attack and, with a final Crackle to the face, toppled onto the floor.

"Wow! Good job Miss Hope!" Phil cheered from where he was watching from above.

"Yeah, you guys did great!" Stella cheered besides him.

"I-I can't quite belllieve it," the fallen Drak groaned, "but… I realllized when we were fighting…" He stumbled back onto his feet. "Mortallls do not lllaunch great big flllames from their mouths, do they… I really did not become one…"

"Well, I could've flapping told you that," Stella snarked.

"Stilll, it matters not. I cannot allow myself the llleisure of defeat," the dragon asserted. "I cannot lllet my Vollluptua be taken back there… She must not return to the Mirage Mahalll…"

"Why not?" Michael asked forcefully, readying his sword once more.

"It is fulll of llliars and disllloyalll worms. I will die before I alllow it…!"

"He's not wrong…" I quietly admitted. "But…"

"Please! Wait!" a familiar voice interjected. We all turned towards the source of the voice, and found Misslei, who had suddenly jumped between us and the queen, looking understandably panicked.

"M-Misslei!" Voluptua cried out, surprised.

"Hahh…hahh…" Misslei panted. "Please, Michael, my good sir, you must wait!" she requested, gesturing towards his sword. "You must not harm His Dryness any further… Without him, there would…" She swallowed before continuing. "…There would be none with whom our Exalted Majesty could share her deepest thoughts and feelings!

"But– Misslei, why?" Voluptua asked, stepping closer to her former handmaiden. "Why would you do this for me after I was so horrible to you?"

"I cannot lie. I saw you, Highness," Misslei answered, turning towards the queen. "I saw you crying as you spoke to His Dryness… You told him you were ashamed of your selfishness… That you were lonely without your esteemed parents… I only wished that you had been able to share such feelings with us, your handmaidens, also. Perhaps if it were so, you could become a different person, and…"

"Misslei…" the queen breathed, cutting Misslei off.

"I feelll so foolllish…" Drak suddenly admitted after watching the scene unfold before us. "If I had onllly stopped to see that there were kindllly soullls such as Misslllei in the palllace… But, lllump-headed lllizard that I am, I tried to take her from the one plllace fulll of peopllle who care about her." He lowered his head and turned back to address us. "Travelllers… I can smelll that you are not mortalll either… And you seem to know a lllot about the golllden fruit. I do not relllish its power any lllonger. I lllong to return to my lllizardy form and lllive happillly by Vollluptua's side. I relllinquish the fruit to you, travelllers. I can lllive happillly knowing that Vollluptua has llloyal llladies lllike Misslllei beside her." The humbled dragon started glowing with a bright, golden light, causing everyone to shield their eyes.

"What's going on?" Phil whispered into my ear.

"I have no idea," I answered back.

"Thank you, celllestialll travelller…" Drak concluded as the light became blinding.

As the light subsided and I regained my own vision, I realized that the large dragon was gone, and now His Dryness sat in his place, next to a shining, golden fruit.

"I guess that's the fruit they were talking about…" I breathed, still rather confused by what was happening.

Michael quickly walked over and picked up the fruit. "Finally," he muttered, "The Fygg of Lust."

"The what of what?" Phil quietly remarked, sounding slightly concerned.

"Drakky-Woo!" the queen suddenly cooed, startling us. "I always knew you were watching out for me! Weren't you, my Drakky-Wakky-woo!"

"I think it is time for us to head back, Highness," Misslei advised.

"Yes, I definitely agree," the queen responded as she lovingly picked up the tiny lizard and rested him on her shoulder.

"Will you be coming with us, Hope?" Misslei asked.

"I'll be right behind you," I answered. "I just… need to ask something first."

"Okay," Misslei smiled. "We'll be waiting for you up top."

I nodded, then waited for them to leave. Once they were safely up the ladder, I quickly turned to Michael and the others. "What the hell is going on here!? What is that thing!?" I interrogated, pointing my hammer at the golden fruit in Michael's hands.

"Oh, this?" he asked, caught off guard from my sudden outburst. "It's a Fygg, a sacred fruit from Yggdrasil herself."

"And that fruit has the power to…?" I gestured towards where His Dryness had formerly been standing.

"Yes…" Michael answered, scratching his head. "Did we not mention that before?"

"Well, why would we have?" Allison replied. "We had no reason to expect her to get involved like this."

"Look, Hope, trust me," Jessica assured. "I know how frightening it can be the first time you encounter a Fygg like this, but you get used to it… eventually… kind of."

"First time…?" Phil repeated.

"How many of those things are there?" I asked.

"Seven," Michael answered.

"Seven!" I repeated, horrified at the thought.

"But!" Jessica quickly jumped in. "We've already retrieved five of them, so there are only two left."

"And what? You just carry around these obviously incredibly dangerous sacred fruits in your bag?"

"Yes…" Michael answered again. "You know, when you put it like that…"

"It sounds just a ridiculous as it is?" I finished for him.

"You know, I kinda agree with her," Stella chimed in.

"It's more complicated than that," Allison tried to reason. "But you don't seem particularly interested in the specifics at the moment, so perhaps we should just leave it there and go our separate ways."

"Wait, Allison-" Michael tried to intervene, apparently shocked by what Allison had said.

"No, she's right," I agreed. "You guys got the fruit you were after, but I've got to go help finish rescuing the queen." Not wanting to wait for a response, I turned away and marched towards the ladder, upset, but not entirely sure why. Phil hung around for a couple seconds longer before catching up with me.


"It's Michael, Jessica, and Allison, isn't it," Queen Voluptua humbly greeted back in her throne room. Even way back where I was standing, I could tell that her demeanor had already changed significantly, something that caused some of the handmaidens to stir uncomfortably.

"Are you sure you don't want to join the others?" Misslei asked, standing with me. "You certainly deserve at least as much praise as the others."

"I'm fine," I answered. "Besides, my master always said that a paladin should help others because it's the right thing to do, not because it's the most rewarding."

"That sounds like something my grandfather would've said," Misslei smiled. "Still, I would feel bad not giving you something after dragging you along through all that, so…" Trailing off, she quickly turned and pulled me into another hug. "Thank you so much for helping me save the queen. …And risking your life for us." Ending the hug, she turned back to listen to the queen, her cheeks a little redder than usual.

I turned my attention back to Queen Voluptua as well, who had continued speaking about her ordeal. "I always thought that no one really cared about me," she admitted. "That's why I was so horrible to everyone. But I realized after what happened…" She turned around and walked back towards her throne, hiding her face. "I was wrong… Misslei, Drak… There are all kinds of people – and creatures – who care about me." She wiped something off of her face before turning back around with a heartwarming smile. "Thank you so much. I'm so looking forward to working together with everyone to make our country the happiest in the world. If you're ever nearby, please come and visit Gleeba again. Drak and I will welcome you with open arms."

Once she was done giving her speech, there was a brief round of applause before everyone started to disperse. I watched as Michael's group left the throne room, noticing that he cast a brief look of disappointment in my direction before leaving.

"Miss Hope?" Phil suddenly asked, speaking for the first time since the fight in the sewers. "May I go do something by myself really quick?"

"What is it?"

"It's nothing," he answered unconvincingly.

"You know I don't like it when you lie to me… but fine," I granted. "Just don't do anything dangerous."

"I won't! I promise!" he said, before zipping off by himself.

Misslei smiled as she watched what would've been a one-sided conversation to her. When she realized that I was finished talking, she started doing so herself. "I'm just so happy to see Her Majesty turn over an entirely new leaf! And Drak, too…." She giggled for a moment. "I'm sorry, it just seems so funny to think of him as a monster now… He seems to be behaving himself impeccably now."

"I'm just glad to have a happy ending for once," I sighed.

"If this is an ending, what starts next for you?" Misslei asked.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I haven't really thought that far ahead yet."

"Well, like Her Majesty said, you're always welcome here. I think you would make an excellent royal guard."

"Hm…maybe," I conceded, giving little though to the idea. "First, though, I have to figure out how to finish up my training."

"You're still in training?" Misslei asked, surprised. "You seem plenty skilled to me already."

"It depends on who you ask," I mumbled, thinking of another paladin in particular who would likely disagree.

"Well, wherever your journey takes you, I hope you visit Gleeba again one day." She pulled me into another hug. "Find me when you do so we can hang out some more, okay?"

"I will," I promised, letting a small smile sneak onto my face. "As long as we don't visit the sewers again."


I yawned as I stretched across the stone bench I was resting on. The Gleeban sun was finally starting to set, but it still gave off just enough warmth to make it comfortable. Rubbing my eyes, I started to wonder where Phil had gone off to. He had been gone for a while…

"There you are, Miss Hope!"

Speak of the spirit…

"There you are, Phil. Do you have any idea how long you've been gone?" I scolded.

"Sorry!" he quickly apologized.

"Well, as long as you're back," I sighed, "we can start coming up with a plan on what to do next."

"Really? Perfect!" he excitedly bobbed. "I wanted to talk to you about that, too!"

"Oh, good. In that case, do you have any ideas regarding how we should go about the rest of our training? Brunhild obviously isn't going to help us anymore, and I doubt she's going to authorize us to get any other help from the Sinndicate, either."

"Well…" Phil hesitantly began, "I was thinking, maybe, we could, um… try to take a more… practical approach?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was talking to the others and-"

"What others?"

"…Michael."

"What do I always tell you?"

"They're not strangers."

"Fine. What were you talking with them about?"

"Well, I had started to get the impression that Michael was kind of expecting you to join them, but I wanted to make sure myself."

"And?"

"I was right, but after your argument in the sewers, he ended up giving up on that idea."

"Well, good, because I have no interest in that, either."

"Really?"

"Yes," I answered, turning away.

"Really?" Phil repeated, flying right up in front of my face.

"…Yes."

"You do remember I am literally your soul, right?"

"…Fine, the idea might have a certain amount of appeal, but there's no reason for it. We hardly know each other."

"Weren't you paying attention when you fought His Dryness? The way you and Michael worked together so well? It was almost like-"

"Phil, please, stop. You know I don't believe in things like that. I… I can't. You know that."

"…sorry," Phil apologized, turning a light shade of blue. Dropping the subject, he slowly descended onto my lap.

Looking at him, I sighed. What a day this ended up turning out to be. "You want to know something, Phil?"

"What?"

I smiled and answered, "I don't think Brunhild has ever gotten to protect Yggdrasil's fruit."


"Hey, guys! We're here! Thanks for waiting!" Phil called out as he flew ahead to Gleeba's front gate, where Michael and the others were indeed waiting… for… us…

"Phil, you weren't going to let me say no, were you?" Phil only responded with a mischievous giggle.

"It's good to see you again, Hope," Michael greeted, rubbing the back of his head. "Since you're here, does that mean you do want to come with us after all?"

"Well, Phil told me all about how much you guys wanted us to come," I casually explained, "and who am I to deny such a request?"

"Really?" Michael asked. "That's strange, because Stella actually said the same thing about you."

"Stella? I haven't talked to her since we rescued the Queen… Wait, did Phil ever actually come talk to you?"

"No…" he answered, turning his head to look up at where Stella and Phil were both hovering overhead, pretending not to notice the accusatory stares everyone else was giving them.

"Great, now there's two of them," Allison remarked, though she had a smile that hinted she knew more than was letting on.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think this is a sign of just how well we're going to get along," Jessica commented. "Don't you think, Michael?"

"I think I've just made a terrible mistake," Michael groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Looking around at my new companions, I couldn't help but smile. "You and me both."


And there you have it, Hope and Phil has finally officially joined Michael's party. I can't it took this long, but the party is finally complete, which means the other kind of party is just getting started. And, hoo boy, is it going to be a party.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter itself. I thought it would be interesting to write an entire chapter from the perspective of someone not in the main party, and Hope and Misslei provided the perfect opportunity to try it. It was a unique challenge, to say the least.

As always, feel free to leave some feedback on the latest chapter. It really helps a lot more than you can imagine.

And, with that, this has once again been D~F. See you all next time.