AN: My first SaGa Frontier fic on my favorite character. You will be very confused if you haven't played SaGa Frontier. Just a friendly word of warning. :) Anything written between asterisks (*) are points to ponder. They're not really part of the story, which is a point to ponder on its very own.

............................................................................................................
Intentions


She was hurt, badly. There was blood. It was everywhere. Purple blood. Red blood. Blue blood. Her friends...they were dead. It was over. She closed her eyes and dropped her sword. She didn't have the strength to hold on anymore. "Lute, Ildon, Rouge, Mesarthim, I'm sorry." She dropped to her knees and bowed her head in defeat. Tears leaked out from beneath her eyelids. "WhiteRose..." she whispered.

"Giving up?" Orlouge asked with raised eyebrows. He chuckled. "You cannot win without your human friends and those traitorous mystic scum, can you?" he asked. "You have one last chance, my daughter. You can still be the prince of all mystics."

She opened her eyes and looked at him. They said his Charm was irresistible. She could see why. Silver hair moved in its own private wind, caressing a face with perfect features. His beauty was soft and glowing. It was almost feminine but distinctly masculine at the same time. Her heart should have ached just to see him. But it didn't. She felt nothing. It was a part of the curse (blessing?) of having his blood flow in her veins. His Charm did not affect her. Sometimes, just thinking about that made her want to jump out of her body. "Just kill me and get it over with," she told him dully.

Orlouge laughed. He was genuinely amused in a bitter sort of way. The three portraits of beautiful women pulsed behind him, adding their shrill laughter to his own. "Will you go out with those last words?" She didn't answer. "You should have been grateful. I saved your life with my own blood. I could have just let you die. What is one less human? But I saved you. You should have been grateful. But I knew you wouldn't be."

Asellus looked up sharply. "What are you talking about?! You were the one who ran me over with a carriage!" she snapped at him, "Stop joking around! Just send one of your screeching portraits at me already!"

"Do you know how old I am?"

"What the Hell does THAT have to do with anything?!"

The portraits' brilliance faded and went back to being nothing more than dull, lifeless canvas. Orlouge walked over to her, his steps echoing off the walls. He stopped before her and dropped down to her eye level. He raised one hand. "This is it," Asellus thought. The hand came to rest on top her head and gently stroked her green hair. Her eyes opened wide and she stared at him in shock.

"My little girl, I don't I think I gave you enough time to prepare," Orlouge said sadly. *Sadness? For who?*

"I don't understand. What are you up to?" Asellus asked warily.

Orlouge rose and turned to study the Rose Platform on which they had been fighting. "You've awakened Time Lord, have you not? Gozarus informed me that you bought a Sand Vessel before you left Facinaturu. The magician friend of yours used a Time Leap on me, I think. A very useful spell."

"Damn it! Stop babbling and answer my question!!" Asellus demanded angrily.

Orlouge laughed. "You have spirit. I saw that from the very beginning." He grew more serious. "Some questions don't need to be answered, my daughter." Asellus glowered at him. Her hand went to her dropped sword. "Ah, good girl! I knew you weren't the type to give up," Orlouge said proudly, "but you aren't strong enough to win." The sword clattered to the ground. He was right. She couldn't even lift her weapon. Purple blood still flowed from her many wounds.

"Time Lord," Orlouge summoned. The space before him shimmered. The air seemed to twist and writhe. In that spot, Time Lord appeared. Gate Magic.

"Mystic Lord Orlouge," Time Lord said simply. He showed no emotion.

"I need to ask you a favor."

"If the Lord of all mystics commanded, how could I refuse?" Time Lord asked bitterly.

Orlouge gave him an ironic smile. "You still haven't gotten over that ...incident, have you?"

"You know the nature of mystics, Charm Lord," he said harshly, "Do not mock me!"

Orlouge's expression darkened. "At another time, I might punish you for that, but today I need your skills."

"What do you want?" Time Lord asked impatiently.

"Turn back time."

"How far?"

"To the time of Lady Asellus' awakening."

Time Lord shook his head. "I don't know if I can go back that far."

"Try" Orlouge said imperviously. "Do it properly and I will leave you to your solitude forever."

Time Lord didn't look like he really believed those words, but he nodded his agreement.

Asellus watched the entire exchange with mounting impatience. "WHAT IS GOING ON?!" *Always angry. Is it really her fault?*

Orlouge looked at her. "Will she remember?"

"No" Time Lord replied, "she won't."

Once again, Orlouge walked up to her and dropped down to one knee so that he was looking her in the eyes. "You were supposed to win. I tapped into your grief, your anger and your determination. I had Ildon train you in fighting. I let Ciato try to kill you. You should have grown strong. And you have, but not strong enough. You have the power to make mystics disappear. You got that from me. But you chose not to use it. You saw me and were afraid of what power would do to you. If you had used your mystic abilities, you would have won. I would have disappeared."

"I won't accept it!! I am human! I want to have nothing to do with you! You took away my family, my friends and...and WhiteRose... I can defeat you with human abilities alone!!"

"Maybe next time," he said seriously, "you will."

"What are you going to do?" Asellus asked suspiciously.

"I'm giving you another chance to kill me."

"Why?"

"I want to disappear," he told her simply. *Through any means necessary.* She sat and stared at him, too stunned to speak. Orlouge turned away from her. "Time Lord, do it now." Time Lord nodded. "Preserve my memory," Orlouge reminded him.

"WAIT!!" Asellus screamed, but it was too late. She could already feel something happening. "Why?" she pleaded.

"There is only one proper way for the Lord of all Mystics to die, my daughter. Do you know how old I am?"

Time shifted backwards.

* * *

Asellus awoke with a scream. "A dream...I dreamt I was run over by a carriage..."


............................................................................................................

AN: I am aware that I used "prince" instead of "princess" at the beginning of the story. That is because titles have little to do with gender in mystic society. This is according to what I've observed from playing the game.
I am also aware that the quote in the last sentence is inaccurate. It flows better in the story than using the exact quotes would. Thank you for reading. Please review.