Revelations

Disclaimer: Don't own the SaGa Frontier characters or anything else from the game.

Three days later, Liang paced her room impatiently, awaiting the arrival of Ares. The day after the meeting with him, Ares had arrived to take her child for cloning. The cloning process was performed on him yesterday, and Sshe was leaving the hospital today,. and hHe had promised to bring her babiesbaby, and the clone, back to her before she left. HerLiang's heart fluttered excitedly at the prospect of having twins. Twins! Something she'd always wished for. She had always dreamed of having twinsSomething she had always dreamed of, and now… She had already decided on their names.

Blue and Rouge.

They were named after the colors of the three legendary Goddesses that protected the Magic Kingdom. Legend had it that when the very existence of the Magic Kingdom was threatened by the demons five thousand years ago, three female magicians, who were granted special powers that no other man had, emerged out of nowhere and lead its residents to victory. The details of the battles were quite sketchy, having been changed, altered or lost in the time that elapsed. But one thing was certain, and that was when the battle ended, with the mortals as the victor, the three magicians who lead them to victory had been, as a reward for their leadership and bravery, proclaimed as goddesses. They were given different titles, which were the Goddess of Intelligence, the Goddess of Compassion, and the Goddess of Magic.

And thus, they swore their allegiance to the Magic Kingdom and vowed to protect it for all eternity, even after their deaths.

It was believed that when in battle, a powerful aura would surround each of them. Each aura was different in color. After they died, and their real names forgotten in the folds of history, those colors were used to represent them. The color blue was the symbol ofrepresented the Goddess of Intelligence. And red symbolizedrepresented the Goddess of Compassion. Put them together and you haveThe last color, purple, symbolizingrepresented the Goddess of Magic.

It seemed weird when she had first thought of it. She was naming her children after colors. How weird is that?You don't see that happen very often. But her friends had immediately agreed that it was perfect for them. And when they pointed out that they were the colors of the Goddesses, Liang didn't need any more encouragement. But why 'Rouge'? Why not 'Red'? Because 'rouge' was another word for 'red', and at that time, Liang was a little on the creative side. But even though the color purple represented the Goddess of Magic, there was no way that she was actually going to name one of her sons 'Purple'! The very thought made her shudder in distaste.

Another flutter of excitement raced through her heart as she thought of the wonderful life she would have with her babies… That is, if Ares ever came.

Why is he taking so long?! For the tenth time that day, she looked at her wristwatch in annoyance. Five minutes to six p.m. Five minutes before Jalian arrives to pick her up, and he still isn't here. She was about to call the Garland Magic Academy to ask aboutfor Areshim, when, as if on cue, the door swung open and the aforementioned Professor walked in carrying the two babies. His hair was loose, quite unusual since he always kept it tied, and in a terrible mess. It looked as if he had just walked through a thunderstorm! Or a crowd of rowdy youngsters fighting over the last slice of pizza. Of course, all this went unnoticed by Liang, who had her eyes trained on the babies.

Nodding his head to Liangher in greeting, he said, "Gomen for taking so long, Liang-san. But your children were quite… active, so to speak. But here they are, safe and sound." He handed them over to the ecstatic Liang, who was already hovering right above the babies.

"Oh my god! They're so cute!" she squealed excitedly. The babies were wrapped snugly in two thick blankets, sleeping peacefully. One of them was sucking his teeny-weeny thumb. It was while she was studying the Amazing Thumb (tm), that she noticed something….

And… "iIdentical?!" hHer jaw dropped. She was having identical twins?! Thank the Goddess!! All three of them even! How lucky can she get?

Raking his fingers through his dark brownraven-black hair, trying to get them in a somewhat orderly manner, heAres moved to the window opposite the door. Folding his arms, he nodded, "Hai… identical. Congratulations once again, Liang-san."

His voice was flat, but anyone who was perceptive enough would detect a tinge of weariness in it. Should he let her know of all the trouble he had to go through just to get those… devils here? Maybe not. Or else he'd never stop. Ugh, it's going to take weeks of washing before he got the god-awful smell of urine out of his coat. And he had the sneaking suspicion that part of his hearing was permanently damaged too, thanks to their brats' immensely strong vocal chords, which he had the pleasure of experiencing first hand.

He grimaced slightly when Liang cuddled the babies. Brats. Demons. The very personification of the devil himself. That's what they were in his opinion. Or worse, they could be the many embodiments of his long-dead brother. He shudders at the thought of it. , that what they were in his opinion. It is glaringly obvious that He had he never liked children or babies, and now he hated them even more. He remembered not to say it out loud, though. Won't want her on his bad side, now would he?

Looking at the babiesStill studying the thumb, Liang asked, "So, which one is the clone?"

Suddenly, Ares was looking a tad bit uncomfortable, which was quite unusual for him since he was the one who was supposed to make people uncomfortable. Clearing his throat a couple of times, it was a loooooong time before he replied, looking everywhere except at Liang, "… I… don't… know…"

A brow was raised on Liang's part. One would expect her to shout, scream and rant at him, with the occasional appearance of a curse or two. Or three. But all she says is a flat, "…What?"

You know, the loose button on his shirt has suddenly become really interesting. Hmm… What do you think will happen if he pulls that little thread sticking out over there? Tugging at the thread, Ares continued, albeit a little hesitantly, while fiddling with the button, "…Remember when the babies' wrist were tagged, to identify who was who?Yesterday, after your baby was successfully cloned, he and his clone's wrists were tagged to identify who was who. … Um, according to the nurses, there was some sort of misprint on the tags. They went to check it up on the computer files, but the blackout that happened after the cloning last night totally screwed the files up. And now… Even the doctors couldn'tcan't decide who wasis who…"

He shrugged as he finally dared to look up, "But it does not matter, right? After all, they both have the same DNA and… uh…" He trailed off when he noticed the change in Liang's expression. Damn. He really shouldn't have looked up.

Her lips tightened at their edges, signaling anger, thin slowly, until they couldn't even be seen, signaling anger, and her eyes narrowed tountil they became two thin slits of blue. But they were pissed. Definitely. Very pissed. But beforeBefore Liang could respond however, or snap at him, or pound him into a bloody pulp (whichever came first), a familiar voice was heard from the hallway. Ares grimaced again when he heard the voice, knowing all too well who it was.

"Liang-saaan! Ready to go?"

Pushing down the anger that was starting to form, Liang replied, "Come on in, Jalian! The door's unlocked." However, her sky-blue eyes were locked tightly onto Ares' coffee-browncoal-black ones. And they were glaring daggers into his. Ares sweatdropped. Now, he wasn't the type to be easily intimidated, but Boyboy, if looks could kill, then he'd be dead and rotting six feet under by now.

The door opened, and Jalian's head appeared. He grinned cheerfully at Liang and entered the room. He wasn't dumb, though. He could sense the tension in the room. Following her line of sight, and the invisible daggers in them, he saw the other individual standing by the window, and the grin was wiped off instantly, and replaced with a cold look. In an equally cold, but somewhat pleasant voice (or as pleasant as he can get with Ares), he greeted him, "Ares-sama."

Oh, whoopee. The pansy's arrived. Even his thoughts about Jalian are filled with sarcasm, not respect. Ares simply nodded., "Jalian." He didn't greet never added the '-sama' title for someone he passionately disliked, and Jalian was high on that list. He only used it whenever he was with the Resident Professor Renk, because Renk had told him to. And if you do not want to be tortured, killed, slaughtered etc., then you will do exactly what the Resident Professor tells you to do. Jalian disliked him passionately, too. Ares' nicknamed for Jalian was 'pansy-ass' and Jalian's nickname for him was 'fruitcake'. The feeling was mutual.

The tension was growing really thick, so thick that one could cut it with a knife and spread it over one's bread for breakfast, with Liang staring at Ares, hard, and the coldness between Jalian and Ares growing colder by the minute. Liang wanted to shout something along the lines of 'WHAT THE @#&% HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!!!' but one of the babies started giggling. For no apparent reason other than the fact that Liang's long silver-ish hair was tickling him. Her eyes snapped from Ares' to her baby. The tension forgotten in a snap, Liang squealed happily at him. The baby squealed back, and she squealed in return. Then the other one squealed, and Liang squealed at him. The squealing continued, and the two men sweatdropped. Gee, what happened to the tension?

Clearing his throat, Jalian said, "Um, pardon me for interrupting your… conversation, Liang-san, but we really must be going." Usually, he would have referred to her as 'Liang-kun, but being around Ares always soured his mood. And when he was sour, he wasn't as affectionate as well. HeJalian proceeded to pick up her bag and looked at her expectantly, completely ignoring Ares. Liang stopped squealing and nodded. All right. Time to go. She bowedbows slightly at Ares, even though she was madder than hell at him, because it was polite to bow to someone before leaving, and she was a polite young lady, right? Right.

"We'll be going now, Ares-sama. Will weI see you around? We really should continue this… littleinteresting conversation, you know."

"I hope not," Jalian muttered to himself, not hiding his dislike for the professor.

Ares, not giving any indication if he had heard Jalian's comment, shrugged, "Maybe... Probably not, though. I'm not exactly the social type." Pausing briefly, he unfolded his arms and stuffed them in is pockets, "You never told me their names…"

Eyes growing cold, she asked coolly, "Oh really?" Should she tell him? After what he just told her?

"Considering what you just told me, Ares-sama, I think that it will take quite some time for me to figure out who is who. But, come visit me in a few months time and I shall have an answer for you," The words, though polite, were colder than the Ice Queen herself. After all, it was his fault that they were mixed up… well, maybe not. But she needed to blame somebody, right? And who else but the very person who had told her to clone the child in the first place? … "Well," nodding towards the one on her left, "this is Blue, and," nodding to the other one, "this is Rouge. Now that that's over with, I guess we'll be leaving. Sayonara, Ares-sama." The words, though polite, were colder than the Ice Queen herself.

She headed out of the room, with Jalian in tow, bag in hand. He didn't so much as look at Ares, much less say goodbye. The latter didn't do so either, merely followed them out of the room. When outside, he walked towards the hospital café without another word.

Liang watched his back in silent contemplation.

Jalian refrained from asking, since it was obvious that Liang didn't want to talk about whatever that happened between her and Ares. She would tell him if she wanted to.

After dropping Liang and the twins of at her house, and making sure that they were comfortable, Jalian left for a meeting at the Krisan Magic Academy, one which he was drastically late for.

After waving goodbye to him, Liang headed straight to the twins' room. The wallpaper was a combination of light blue and red, with baby ducks and toy trains as the design. A white carpet covered the floor. Two cribs were placed in the center of the room, and a cupboard was placed by the door. On the other side of the room was a large window, opened slightly for air circulation. Above the cribs hung those swinging thingies that babies loved to play with, and that could play music when its dial was turned.

The babies were sleeping soundly in their respective cribs. Closing the door gently, Liang tiptoed to her room changed into something more comfortable. Coming out in a simple T-shirt and shorts, she went downstairs to fix herself a sandwich and tea. After enduring the immensely horrible food served by the hospital, she felt that she deserved some real food for a change.

Sipping her tea slowly, she reviewed the carefully-planned life she would shape for her children. Of course, security came first. Children needed a roof over their heads and security in their lives if they are to grow up healthy and happy. Money wasn't a problem. She had more than enough for all three of them. Her exotic flowers were selling extremely well in Kyo, even though she had been in business for years now.

Good education came second. That was no problem either. The Magic Kingdom was filled with good schools. She would have no trouble finding the perfect school for them. *sigh* It's going to be just perfect…And as they grow older, she would take them camping, fishing, and anything else she could think of.

A frown suddenly appeared on her face, replacing the previously dreamy features. She couldn't wait for her children to grow up, but… what about her agreement with Ares? Thinking about the agreement reminded her of what he had said earlier. She had agreed to send the clone to Ares' academy, but now she didn't even know who the clone was!! The frown grew darker as she silently swore. Rubbing her temples, she wondered what she should do.

……………………….

Flip a coin maybe? Heads stays with her, tails goes to the academy. Fair and square, right?

Laughing out loud at the sheer ridiculousness of it, she shook her head. The only way she would be able to tell who the clone was would be by comparing their blood type or something when they were older. That would work. She hoped. In the mean time, she would just forget about the whole problem and have fun with the twins. As for the name problem, she could just wait for a few years, when their appearances change, and she would be able to decide on who got what name.