Chapter 9

Justice*

Law Ever So Faithful

Alessa awoke to find Hiero playing with his cards by the previous night's fire, his face looking haunted. His pendant was dangling from his right hand, being held out while he flipped cards over with his left. Hiero just looked like he was concentrating too hard, and it was bothering him.

Sitting on either side of him were Gatti and Migel, the latter with his arms over his chest and scowling, but his eyes were sleepy. Both of them looked like they had been shaken awake, their hair all rumpled and messy and only their lavender vests and black leather pants being on. Hiero had one on to, but it was terribly wrinkled. She recalled it was Dalet's, one the numerous spares that he'd grabbed in their escape days ago. Dalet had at first refused, since Hiero had done nothing but bother and humiliate him. They had nearly drawn swords one each other until Dilandau stepped in and hit Dalet for being greedy and childish. Hiero took that time to snatch and put on one of the shirts, then Dalet and him brawled for a few minutes until Dalet was pinned to the ground.

Dilandau hit him again for losing once more to Hiero, and forced him to train outside as punishment. Dalet had come back in covered in frost and shivering, but otherwise all right. He looked very humbled, but not enough to keep from glaring at a snickering Hiero. She just didn't understand Hiero sometimes, he always seemed to be plotting something, then was a perfect angel the next.

He was a perfect gentleman to her, Chesta, Gatti, and Guimel, treating Migel and Dalet as if they'd sinned against him personally, and he was a pretty average rendition of a fellow soldier and comrade with Ryuon and Dilandau. She'd been shocked to see Dilandau hit Hiero when Hiero made a comment about his Dragon Slayers lack of motivation other than material objects, but he took it like he enjoyed it. That was a little scary, but perhaps he had a reason. Hiero had said he'd never had a whole lot of people around him other than older people, perhaps he was willing to take a bit of punishment to attain new friendships. 'Hmmph, who'd want to be the friend of an albino psychopath? Hiero has some odd tastes….I wonder why he's the way he is. It can't be because he was in the palace most of his life alone, he'd be more withdrawn, wouldn't he?' she thought.

Alessa went on watching them, Hiero picking up his final card. She couldn't see the other ones, the hazy green light of the cavern obscuring the images, but Hiero spoke out what the card was softly, but enough for her to hear it. "Justice….the card of truth and law, the Angel of Truth is next. Now to find out which one of you is that angel I take outside today." Hiero said gently, looking past Gatti and Migel a moment to the left and right. She followed his gaze to the others, all of whom were still asleep. Dilandau was laying where he had been the past two nights, alone and for once looking perfectly at peace. She had to bet it was very rare for the lunatic youth in both his lives.

A good ways from his sleeping form was Chesta, the only Slayer she had been able to befriend to some degree aside from Gatti. They were both pleasant young men, nice and honest, but Chesta looked like an innocent little kid in a teenager's body. His eyes just made her think of puppies and kittens, purely cute and placid. Chesta had been talking a mile a minute yesterday about his temple quest, about the creature he'd fought, which sounded like a sphinx to her. Maybe she wasn't fond of history class, but she knew that description well. It had only been pounded into the class every damn year.

He even explained all the funny words that Hiero had spoken, ruffling feathers, but Hiero looked proud of him and himself. Migel took his nickname rather poorly, but Dilandau casually promised to beat him senseless if he picked a fight over a name. Chesta had been more tired than he wanted to admit, and thusly fell asleep after supper, not bothering to tell anyone why there were two long holes on the back of his armor. She'd ask him today, once Hiero left.

She looked back at Hiero to see he had both Migel and Gatti touching their bare hands over his. His hand was holding out his pretty pendant, which swung gently back and forth on its own. "Concentrate on the past, the symbols of one your mother's stomachs, on your feelings, the pendant will choose from that. Concentrate as hard as you can….nothing else exists but you." Hiero said, his voice airy and light.

Gatti's closed lids were twitching, but Migel looked perfectly pissed even with his eyes closed, the sneer still on his lips. Hiero's breathing was speeding up, then the pendant started to spin perilously, glowing bright pink. The way they were sitting there like statues seemed almost endless, until the pendant flashed a blinding pink, making Alessa look away.

After a few minutes, she looked back and saw, as much as she couldn't believe it, Hiero's pendant was angled in mid-air, pointing at Gatti. Gatti's stormy blue eyes were quite stunned, his mouth opened slightly. Migel was still scowling, looking terribly unsatisfied, and almost jealous.

"You're next Gatti, time for us to get to the Temple of Truth. I'll douse us in the right direction, so don't bother asking." Hiero spouted softly, getting a nod from Gatti as the youth stood. As he went off to get his armor, Hiero finally looked at Alessa with an almost nervous smile.

"Hi…." He said, standing up himself. She nodded and gave off a slight wave, but then all she could do was stare up at him as he stood before her. "Hi yourself. So you're leaving again." She stated, and he tilted his head to the side a bit, shutting his eyes gently before fully looking at her again. His short sapphire hair glimmered almost turquoise in the cave light, his eyes like a raging ocean. "Yes, I suggest you stay near Chesta or Dilandau today….Sorry, but I don't trust Migel and Dalet around you." he said.

Her brow furrowed at him, and he seemed to grimace at it. She stood and looked him dead in the face with a full scowl. "I'm not a wimpy little maiden that needs constant protection. I can take care of myself, your majesty." She scoffed.

To her great surprise, he smiled, then walk off saying," Ok then, if you say so. All you had to do was tell me. Have a nice day with the Dragon Slayers. We'll be gone all day."

Hiero left the cavern at an even pace, leaving her dumbfounded, only breaking out of it as Gatti ran out after him with firewood and ration packs strapped to his armored back. "That was sure fast….normally people argue about a hissy fit. Oh well, makes things easier for me to adapt to this world on my own. Depending on people is a joke, they always leave you anyway….some time or another. They always leave." She mumbled, laying back down, but keeping her eyes on Migel, who had done the same, but had a lewd expression on his face.

"Try anything and you'll be eating my foot in several placed." She spat. He didn't look alarmed, but turned over so his back was facing her. 'Creep….,' She thought," He might be destined to be an angel….but he's still a perverted creep. I don't care how long its been since they've been with girls….he has no right to treat me like a toy.'

~ Scarabus Mountain Range ~

As they flew across the frozen terrain of Asgard, towards the almost black crystalline mountains, Gatti grew bored easily with it. He preferred colorful places like Asturia and Fanelia, they had always been worth looking at, before they became red and black. He couldn't feel guilty about following orders, he wasn't supposed to. It had been the Dragon Slayers that had burned Fanelia and Freid to the ground and Lord Dilandau nearly destroyed Asturia, but it was all by orders. Yet, deep down he felt slight pangs of guilt, along with the painful crushing death King Van had sentenced him to.

'Maybe I deserved it, we didn't stop Lord Dilandau….from burning those places to nothingness, Fanelia wasn't meant to be burned but we were too afraid of Lord Dilandau's response to speak against it. At least Chesta and I tried to make him calm down, to tell him things were wrong….but we only got slapped for it. I hate being struck….I'm not a child.' He thought, feeling dizzy as Hiero too him higher in the sun, yet cold sky.

Gatti had nearly lost his breath when Hiero revealed his wings to him, the pristine and white majesty of the great Draconian plumes. The looked to stretch out forever, unhindered by the snow and wind. A few moments later Hiero picked Gatti up and took to the sky towards the mountains. He'd never imagined hoe exhilarating flying so free, even better than his past guymelef, could be until that moment.

Hiero had closed his eyes a few times during flight, scaring Gatti to death when they neared the ground or a tree, but Hiero would swerve and miss them by mere inches. Gatti scowled at him and tried to tell him to stop it, but Hiero didn't seem to hear him, his eyes dead set on the mountains the entire flight there.

Now they were over the mountain range and spiraling down into the warm mists between them. It was almost like the ravine area he and the other had holed up in after escaping Zaibach's floating castle of Eden.

The wind rushed through his silvery-blonde hair, his blue eyes wide with excitement and fright at the same time. He had to smile, he couldn't help it, it had been a long time since he'd done anything interesting other than go out and hunt for food, before his guymelef got something caught in its inner workings and stopped working. They had no supplies or tools to fix their guymelefs, so it was a waste of time to try.

"We're here." Hiero shouted, the roaring wind about their bodies making Gatti half-deaf. He just nodded at the teenage king, then followed his doubled colored gaze. Hiero was right, though the temple was much larger than Chesta's had been, and was in much better condition. It looked to be made of pure gold, at least from this height he thought. For all he knew it could be just from golden-looking stone or metal, not the real thing.

As they got closer, he could see a large symbol carved above the even larger door with the same symbol. It looked like a backwards 'Z' tilted on its bottom end at an angle, like it had been meant to look like a diamond at first, but the left line on the top and the right on the bottom were kept off. It was familiar enough to him, not only from books and ancients tests he'd been made to read to excel as one of Lord Dilandau Dragon Slayers. Being all brawn and no brains would destroy him and he didn't need that. He already respected their leader enough, which was why he was only slapped and never beaten. He didn't need to be called an idiot on top of being slapped.

It was the ancient symbol of truth, a Draconian symbol, like the symbol of Wisdom. After all, most of the ancient texts were from Atlantis, discarded and buried all over Gaia, preserved only by the families that held ancient guymelef's, or had enough gidaru** to throw around and buy it from thieves. 'My symbol….if I survive. Hey, if little Chesta can survive a she-demon, I can sure as hell survive. All I have to be is just ….heh….true. I wonder what will happen when I become an angel…..I wish Chesta had said something other than he got lots of wisdom. What does the power of truth give you?' he wonder, then felt his body jerk.

They had landed right by the doorway, Hiero already lowering Gatti onto his feet. "Ok, you just go in there and I'll stay out here and wait. You have to go it alone….same as Chesta." Hiero told him, pulling the rations and wood off of Gatti's back and set it all on the ground.

Gatti nodded and made his way to the door, but stopped a moment. He looked up at the symbol and brushed his gloved fingers across it. "Gatti Derron Maateo, 10th angel of destiny, the Angel of Truth you seek to awaken within. Do you accept life and death within the truth as your test?" a low male voice asked, sounding like it was all around him. He remained still and diligent, as if standing at attention. "I will. Challenge me. I can do this very well on my own if you doubt me." Gatti said, saying it more to be brave.

The voice was silent, then started laughing. "Who said it would only be your life on the line?" it giggled. Gatti didn't understand until he heard a shout mixed with stone sliding against stone. He whirled about to see Hiero clinging to the stone floor, the rest of him hanging over a hole that had appeared. Gatti moved to save him, but a reptilian claw shot up, almost metallic green and bony amidst the scales on the sunken skin, and grabbed Hiero by the face. As Gatti reached for him, Hiero had vanished, his hand snatched down by another reptilian claw into the deep darkness.
"HIERO!!" he shouted, full ready to leap down the hole and save the young man, but the hole was closing already, too fast for Gatti to even consider fitting through. He fell to his knees and started to beat upon the stone ground, yelling Hiero's name and a string of Gaian curses he would not dare speak in public. After several minutes of this, bruising his fingers terribly and scraping his knuckles, he just kept himself there on all fours, gasping and groaning in frustration.

"Are you quite done, Angel of Truth? Your friend's life is growing more endangered the longer you whine there like a cowardly child. Enter the temple, speak the truth, and your friend and you shall come out alive." The voice piped up, almost amused.

Gatti got up gradually, his eyes stormy and alive with hatred. "I will, now open up. I will not fail anyone ever again. Do you hear me?" Gatti spat angrily.

"Perfectly, but here is one bit advice for the guardian your friend is getting aquatinted with. Only the light of day can win it." It chuckled, then the door faded away into nothingness.

Gatti wasted no time in rushing through it, knowing he'd never forgive himself if anything happened you the young king. It wasn't so bad imaging how Lord Dilandau would take it, though his patron would never forgive him, but it was worse if Gatti couldn't forgive himself. Hiero was a good guy, a friend almost, always listening to their old war stories and such, except Dalet and Migel's. More so on Migel, since Gatti had seen Hiero and Dalet talking about girls. It was odd not to see Dalet scowling at Hiero, but the conversation had been more important obviously.

Gatti pushed himself harder, running faster and faster through the dimly lit hallways, shouting out the Fanelian king's name, praying he was all right.

~ Hot Springs Cavern ~

Alessa was watching her sneakers move from side to side, she had been doing so for the past half-hour. The others were all up, but Dalet was outside with Migel training, Dilandau was sharpening and cleaning his sword after training this morning. They'd all woken up a few hours after Hiero and Gatti had left, and Dilandau was the only one who was peeved about it, supremely. She steered clear of him and kept to her corner while he kept to his, those deadly garnet eyes never once lifting.

Guimel and Chesta had gone out for more firewood, but returned swiftly with their arms full. To see them doing that, she felt like those TV families do when they go camping. Both of them had such terribly boyish faces, she couldn't help it. They looked more suited to being choirboys than soldiers. Still, at least they were nice and not vain or rude like Dalet and Migel. Dilandau she had no desire to get to know, and even if she did, he'd probably hit her or bite her head off for being friendly, weak as he seemed to deem it. He more so referred to Hiero as a comrade, never a friend.

'None of my business what a lunatic thinks. Hiero can be his so-called friend, the guy needs it like he needs a bucket of sedatives.' She thought, her eyes blinking back her tedious entertainment.

Then a flash of gold and turquoise bobbed in front of her, then a pale green and emerald, startling her completely out of her thoughts. "Want to talk, Lady Alessa." It was Chesta, his cheeks a little rosy from the cold. He looked even more childish than before, and she had to smile. He smiled back and then sat down. Guimel followed, looking eager yet very shy.

"Well, at least you two are social butterflies….but what's to talk about?" she asked. Chesta looked at Guimel, and Guimel looked at Chesta, then they both looked at her with impish grins. "What's the Mystic Moon like?" Guimel asked quietly.

"Everything about it?" she gasped, but Chesta shook his head. "No, just the good stuff….the people, the food, the mecha, and the countries….not every little detail just now. Not all at once." Chesta breathed out, chuckling a bit under his breath

Alessa nodded, blushing a bit. "Well, for one, we don't have any mecha, or any kind of guymelef technology for that matter. We have cars, airplanes and trains though."

"What's all that for?" Guimel asked. "Cars we use like you use horses and carriages, to get from one place to another, they run on fuel like your guymelef's do, in a way, but liquid instead of energists. Plains and trains do to, but they are bigger and faster. Planes are like….uh….big metal things with wings, they can take a lot of people to places faster than cars. They just cost more and you can't own one. Too expensive to maintain." She explained.

Guimel and Chesta looked confused a moment, but only Chesta went deep in thought before looking up again. "Like Allen Schezar's Crusade and the floating fortresses, except they aren't bases. Just for traveling, right?" he piped.

"Right, you catch on quick Chesta. Now trains are steam or fuel powered….well, land vehicles that are very long and made of metal, like long carriages attached to each other, running along tracks made of wood and metal, metal mostly nowadays…." She began again, but Chesta once again spoke.

"Our old home country of Zaibach had lots of Dragon Graveyard mines, for old energists. They had pushcarts on tracks you spoke of, to make it easier to get the energists around." he said quickly.

She gave him a look of mock anger. "Do you want to talk or what?" When she saw his smile fade, cringing a little, she patted him quickly on the shoulder. "It was a joke, lighten up, kid." She chuckled.

When he relaxed, Alessa went on. "We call what you call the Mystic Moon the Earth, and we have lots of countries, but where I come from, the continent of America, we have states. They are just like countries in a way, we just run things differently where I come from than other places, so we call them states. We have fifty of them." She sped out, noting the shock in their eyes.

"Fifty?" Dalet's voice rang out, startling her. The now frosty brunette was a few feet away from them, a stunned Migel shaking out snow and ice from his hair. She inwardly went cold as they approached. For a reason she couldn't define, she looked at Dilandau, who was currently staring at his shimmering blade almost affectionately with his garnet eyes.

After a few moments, his look hardened, and his eyes sharply lifted to hers, his lips twisted in a sneer for being interrupted. She quickly looked away, sucking in her breath and staring straight ahead, but subtly, turned her eyes a bit back toward the young man, and deep down she wanted to hit him despite how scary he really was. He was smirking at her, his eyes mocking her as if to say," Not so tough now, are we?"

She suppressed her urge to try and hit him, it really would only get her hurt. Hiero hadn't woken Dilandau up to tell him not to kill her, and she'd refused to stay near him for protection or even tell him Hiero had made the request. She feared if she did, he'd accuse her of lying and beat her face in. he'd proven beyond a shadow of a doubt despite his lithe physique, he was capable of breaking bones.

Once Dalet and Migel sat down in front of her, making no lewd expressions or even reaching out sleazy grins to touch her, she nodded quickly. Dalet looked a little shocked, scratching his head. "You must have many wars in you America, so many kings to contend with each others 'states' must be a burden." Dalet commented wonderingly.

Alessa stifled a laugh, and shook her head. "We don't have a king for each state, we have a different kind of king, a president that rules over all the states at once….in a big place called the White House. He runs the entire continent and even does peace stuff with foreign countries, Dalet. We'd be very war-like if we had fifty kings trying to agree on something." She let out.

Dalet went on looking shocked, Migel and the others joining him. "One man does all that from a house that's white. What kind of king rules from a house?" Migel queried.

"No, its like a palace only its called the White House, a big white mansion where the president lives and has meetings….and….other stuff." She said, not wanting to bring up sexual conspiracies or other such nonsense of American democracies.

"He must be a very power king to be doing all that for so many places at once. How on Gaia does a person like that have fun of any sort? He must have no time for swordplay." Guimel piped innocently, and Alessa started to giggle.

"A big Cuban cigar is all it takes, his sword is enough for him to have fun….really. Pfft." She stifled out, giggling, and none of them seemed to understand why.

"Ok….what about the people and the places you live in, and the food?" Chesta put in, no longer interested in politics. "The people are basically the same, except every on Earth is human, we don't have cat-girls or bird-men or dog people, just humans. Everyone has a job, or is poor, murderous, creeps, kind, priests, all such things. We all live in houses, just some are made of wood and stone in towns and small cities. In the big cities we have thing called apartment buildings and skyscrapers that are made of metal and stone that are pretty much way higher than any of the those floating castle things. They are lined mostly with glass so people can look out at the streets and at the sky." She explained, waiting a while for them to process it. They seemed to understand a little, but were still looking at her curiously.

"Sounds amazing, but a bit too flashy. Those would the first to fall to an attack." Migel sniffed.

"Well excuse me, Mr. Ego, we're not as bloodthirsty for war as you people are." She spat, unable to hold it back. He was looking at her the wrong way, all high and mighty. Migel glared at her, ready to leap up and tear her throat out, but Chesta and Guimel got in front of her and blocked. Migel growled at them, and sat back down grudgingly.

Chest and Guimel moved away, but remained closer this time. "Tell us about the food, since it's almost time for lunch." Guimel piped lightly, his emerald eyes flitting a moment towards Migel, nervously. Alessa nodded. "The foo….the food is real different from here because we have stuff called fast food, like fried chicken, hamburgers, its made from ground up cow flesh so you know its not made from pigs, hot dogs…." She was saying, but at the last words, everyone stared at her funny.

"YOU EAT DOGS?! That's sick!" Dalet yelped, holding his mouth. Alessa rolled her eyes and started to wave her hands at them. "No, no, no….we don't eat dogs, not Americans anyway. Hot dogs are made from pigs, ground up and processed pig meat. Hat's it….God, maybe we should stop talking about this. You guys keep taking things the wrong way."

Chesta shook his head, grabbing her right hand with both of his hands and looked at her imploringly. "Please, tell us more….we promise…."he said, then looked at others in the same manner, then back to her," We all promise not to interrupt or ask anything until you are done."

He was looking at her so preciously, like a puppy would look at its master begging for affection or food. She just couldn't say no to those innocent eyes, and she hated it. She felt like screaming at him for being so cute and helpless looking, just to get her to give in. With an exasperated sigh and a slight shake of her head, she nodded, and he finally stopped giving her the puppy dog eyes and smiled.

"Ok….how about we talk about beaches? That seems safe enough….." she began, only hoping that beach balls, barbecues, and speedboats wouldn't turn out to be a disaster of her own design this time. 'Hiero, where the hell are you? Come back, please….' She though vainly as she started to talk about the glories of Earth beaches.

~ Temple of Truth ~

- Halls of Verity -

Gatti got tired of running after over two hours of moving through the halls. He was a born athlete, he's rated top in his class for agility and speed, better than even Lord Dilandau could hope to be, or anyone, he gathered. He knew he was better than Allen Schezar, he'd fought the guy once or twice, getting exceptional comments from the playboy. It had been at least two years before Gatti had lost his life, a mission of espionage, to see how well he could adapt in enemy territory. He'd proven his worth and was exception in spying on people as well as escaping them without detection. He only wished he had been able to beat Allen on the Crusade instead of getting knocked into the water. Despite how good he was at swordplay and spying, guymelef fighting was a whole other issue.

He could be proud of his swordsmanship at least, if at all. He wasn't proud a door had tricked him and his patron's ally was captured because of it. It was downright humiliating, he barely broke a sweat in being flown here, or fighting enemy soldiers, not even being yelled at or struck by Lord Dilandau made the smell of fear touch him, but a damn door did it.

Right now, all he wanted to do was get Hiero and leave. He could come back alone for the Temple of Truth and not put the sole heir and king of Fanelia at risk. Hiero was too headstrong, worse than King Van, and rebellious to be a king, or anything noble. He acted like a rowdy teenager who just wanted to have fun, not interested in the boredom of politics or anything having to do with proper behavior. Teasing people, even Lord Dilandau, seemed to excite him like the devil swimming in suffering. 'Had to think about suffering didn't you? Keep moving Gatti, you have to find him.' He thought, sharply turning about the next dark corner.

He wasn't expecting to run into anything solid, yet soft and wet. He jerked backwards instinctively, drawing his blade, only to match eyes with eyes with the one he'd been searching with.

"Hiero!" Gatti spouted. Hiero looked like he wasn't terribly hurt, but he looked put out. He was gagged and bound with sticky, green looking ropes that practically drooled around his form to a slim stone pillar. IT was if something had vomited a trail of snot-rope around the young king, but at least the gag looked to be made of fabric, even if it was dirty fabric.

His double-colored eyes were teeming with rage, and he was struggling against his disgusting binds, but it wasn't doing him any good. What was even more strange about the pillar were the numerous holes littered about it.

Gatti quickly shook his head and approached the pillar again, but then Hiero started muffling something, his eyes going wide with urgency. Gatti wondered what was wrong until he heard breathing, deep and nasally, like the way a doppelganger breathed.

He whipped around to see the wall that had been behind him was gone, a long and new hallway where there had been none. Standing in the middle of it was a creature so hideous, Gatti nearly wretched. He recognized the arms as the ones that had dragged Hiero into the hole outside, but the rest of its body was worse than any disgusting doppelganger in creation.

It stood as tall as a normal doppelganger would, but the similarities stopped right there. It was hairless, covered with puss-bubble skin that was leaking out green slime similar to the stuff on Hiero, and it was very disgusting to see it keep pumping the crap out like sweat. Its eyes were hollow and white and face like a cross between a dead fish and a lizard. Its body was almost humanoid aside from its incredibly skinniness of its body, looking ready to break in two at a slight breeze, but it stood tall and proud, grinning at them like a hungry piranha.

"Gatti, the next Angel of Truth for the test of the millennia you took your time getting down here. The boy and I have been having….gurgle….such fun, my dear. Are you ready for the challenge of the Halls of Verity? Say yes, feel free." It rhymed out, its voice a sickening croak.

"Yes, I am ready. Test me." Gatti spouted bravely, and he meant it. His and Hiero's lives were at stake, he couldn't fail, not with so much at stake.

The thing grinned still, probably because its all its disgusting tooth mouth allowed. It drooled a bit, dripping down its slimy chest and neutered parts. Gatti felt his stomach turn, but held it down by swallowing hard.

"Truth be told. Don't be so damned bold. Confess to me. What became of your family?" it asked. Gatti twitched a moment, not wanting to answer personal questions. He had been trying to blot out many bad memories, that one included. He looked back at Hiero, who had an indifferent expression on his slimed up and bleeding face. He nodded suddenly, his eyes now imploring.

"They died. Zaibach murdered them when they wouldn't let me join the Dragon Slayers. They wanted me to go to Asturia instead." Gatti stated, keeping his voice perfectly calm.

The thing shook its head. "Blood for a lie. Lie too much and your friend shall die." It said, then the muffled screams erupted behind Gatti. He turned about in horror to see the hole were filled slightly with dagger tips, maybe an inch, but those weren't what made his skin drain of color. Its was the blood leaking down Hiero's back, the dagger tips sticking through both of his hands, one on the side of his leg. He had to bet there was one or so behind his head, and that had to hurt.

Hiero shot him a dirty look and mumbled out things, probably curses. 'The temple of truth, I can't lie….but….would Hiero reveal the truth to others….no, our lives are more important than my secrets. I….have to….ugh….tell the truth or my friend will die.' He thought mournfully, and looked back at the creature.

"No, I take that back, true, Zaibach soldiers came to kill them….but….I knew about it. I wanted to be a Dragon Slayer so badly, to show I was good enough to everyone, but my parents….thought it was bad for me. They told me they'd take care of the problem, and I had an idea what they meant, but I tried to ignore it. I….opened the door that night, knowing they were out there and just went outside while they killed my parents….my sisters….the people who loved me. I sentenced them to death for my needs."

The thing didn't do anything a moment, then started to clap as it backed away into the darkness. "Bravo, Angel of Truth. You're not so uncouth. But one more challenge await you, yes. See if you can save his life and gain your bless." It crooned, then started to vanish.

Gatti ran at it, but instead of going through the hall, he smacked into a wall. He fell right on his ass, swearing under his breath as he rubbed his sore face. If Lord Dilandau or any of the other Slayers could see him now they'd be laughing their asses off, save for Lord Dilandau. He'd be hitting him right now.

He looked up painfully at the re-materialized wall, rubbing his sore nose a moment before getting up. "Nothing is what it seems around here, huh, Hiero?" he said sourly. When got no response, he turned his head a bit.

"Hey Hiero, what's….wrong? Oh damn…." He swore. Hiero and the pillar were gone, not even a hole left in the floor to use to follow him. All that remained were a few spatters of blood, the hall soundless once again. He sighed and started running again, shouting for Hiero. "This just keeps getting better and better." He snapped sarcastically.

~

Another hour passed when Gatti's legs finally started to throb and give way, not willing to run anymore. He stopped a moment and took a breath, walking after a few minutes passed him by. He had taken to peeking around corners, since his current smell wasn't really helping him contain what little food he'd eaten for breakfast. He had stopped only once in his travels through the halls to vomit in a corner, thankfully not everything he had eaten was still in his stomach. Still, the stench of this creature was more than he could bear. It was like he'd bathed in raw garbage, fish heads, blood, and refuse at the same time. It wasn't going to come off by rubbing it off. He doubted that even if he washed it off he'd want to ever get back in the hot springs.

Gatti smirked a moment, wondering how Hiero was faring being gagged and smothered in the garbage. Gatti had only run into him and he couldn't stand the way he smelled, he felt bad for Hiero who probably was aching for relief. Gatti had to go to bathroom too, but throwing up was enough for now. He didn't need that thing sneaking up on him while he was taking a leak.

'First thing, before we leave, I have to find a bush or boulder or something. I can't believe myself, my life and Hiero's life are at stake I have to go to the bathroom. The others would die laughing if they found out anything about what I've been doing in here. I hope Hiero won't tell. I can get over it, but right now we'd all be bored enough to point out each others' weaknesses, specially Dalet. He loves to tease everybody….though not as much as Hiero. Gods, I'm dead.' He thought, groaning as he sunk his face against his hands, then regretted it. He knew his bad luck was growing when he smelled the thing's scent very strongly, the sticky film on his face.

He retracted his hands to see they were slightly covered in the slime, from when he tried wiping it off. Now it was on his face. "Can this possibly get any more disgusting?" he growled.

"Yes, and more grisly if you like once more. So tell the truth I do implore" the gutter voice sounded again, ahead of him. He looked up slowly to see the disgusting creature standing in the room ahead of him, a room that wasn't there, but in this place Gatti had stopped being shocked. It trying to backtrack when he thought he was lost, a wall would appear, a dead room, or at worst, a pit with a locked door at the other side. It was very annoying, but he deemed it was necessary to challenge all of the truth angels that tried to brave it. He banged into walls each time he tried to head into the rooms or doors, and it was taxing his patience.

This room was slightly different. Afternoon sunshine was shining through the ceiling, shining in at an angle right on the door's symbol of truth. The creature was standing in front of the doorway leading into the room, but suddenly stepped off to the left, leaving a trail of green behind him as the puss bubbles on his back popped again and dribbled down.

Gatti took a breath, gagging a moment when he inhaled the horrible scent of the goop on his face, then walked forward, only looking doorway before him. What did surprise him was that he didn't slam into anything solid, he just stepped right in all the way calmly to the sunshine adorned door. He stopped there, looking in the direction the creature had walked off in. It was standing dead center against the wall of that particular direction, his slime still drooling, but beside him was Hiero, still tied in the slime and looking rather sickly. The young king was struggling extra hard, his eyes bloodshot and sweat leaking from forehead as he did so. 'The smell must be agony….better get this over with so we can bath this crap off.' He thought, taking his sword out again.

"Oh so bold, truth be told. What became of sweet Karla Fayene? Please, come clean." It gurgled, rubbing its gross and slick claws together, raking a long purple forked tongue across his horrible eternal grin.

Gatti trembled, but if he'd been brave enough to tell the truth about his family. He could do this. "She was….tortured and beaten to death when I was thirteen, my second life. A slave girl I fell in love with….we tried to escape Zaibach together, but we got caught. I got caught and lied, I didn't want to die again, I couldn't leave Lord Dilandau and the others behind for my needs. I said….I was following her because of suspicious behavior." He sped out, then grimaced when Hiero started muffling out more screams. The blades had moved again, another inch and Hiero was bleeding again.

"Tell the truth or next time he will die. Be truthful, bad angel, do not lie!" it cackled, looked as if it was enjoying Hiero's suffering. Hiero shot it, not Gatti a dirty look, and it seemed to make the thing back up.

"All right….stop being picky, that was all true, but you must want all of it. I stood there and watch them torture her, I didn't love her enough to tell them I was escaping with her. They cut her beautiful raven hair off, mutilated her face and body! Then, Folken came in and ordered me to torture her, to prove my loyalty. No one was there but myself, him and his loyal soldiers, none of the Dragon Slayers knew where I was. I….agree and pretended to do it. I looked at her one last time, mouthed that I loved her, she spit in my face and I ran the dagger they gave me through her heart, so she'd stop suffering. It….was all my fault because I was afraid of dying again. Dying once was too much, but again, at the hands of a madman like Folken….I just couldn't let it happen to me," Gatti rasped out, holding back the white hot tears that were screaming to get out," Is that what you wanted to hear, you vile thing! You monster! Is it?"

The thing leaned its head back and laughed, then leaned forward as if it were made of rubber, and flipped in the air to land a foot from Gatti. The Dragon Slayer stood firm, his sword poised and ready for battle. "Truth be told, I know what your future holds. I am the guardian of truth, killer of romance. Now that you've passed alive, let's dance!" it cackled, slashing its claws right at Gatti.

Gatti leapt backwards, the thing's gruesome and gangly green claws slicing across the front of his armor. They didn't go through, but two of the claws snapped off with sickeningly wet pops. He could see the bones and muddled sinew wriggling inside like bloody maggots, making him feel terribly ill, but he kept moving away, taking as many swipes at the thing as he could.

To his horror, the few hits he got went right through him like he was made of jelly, not even a drop of blood spilling. He swore in frustration and kept slashing, cutting away the horrible claws. He sliced both hands off finally, backing himself fully against the sun-kissed door as the thing stared almost amused at his stumps.

'What the hell is it? It's not even screaming in pain, or bleeding. What can I do to kill this….I need a hint or….advice. Oh, the door said that only the light of day could win it.' He thought, blinking back against the sunshine. He did a double take as he processed this, then grinned. "Light of day….can win the day. How corny….but this is life or death. Corny or not, I'll do anything about now….oh….crap." Gatti was saying, then moaned in horror as the thing started to grow back its lost hand. The wet crackling noises filled his ears like pins and needles sounded all around him as the slime went inside the maggoty flesh and began to form bone, then flesh, and claws.

"Light of day, oh please, light of day." Gatti breathed, sticking his sword in the light, watching the reflected light hit the left wall, too far from the grumbling and gooey creature. He kept angling it, not budging from his stance as the creature fully healed and reared its slimy head at him. The light was on the ceiling, then in Hiero's eyes, which made the king muffled out what sounded like curses. He knew those muffles well, he'd heard plenty of captives in the past make those noises.

The thing was charging, and Gatti kept aiming, breathing fast and hard as it got closer, its claws aimed for his tender throat. Then the reflected light finally hit its mark, it the creature's chest. It stopped in mid-stride, its gaping and drooling jaws still opened wide, the claws still reaching for his throat. Gatti stayed still and kept the light there.

The thing started to melt, even more profusely than its puss bubbles had been. An eye fell out with a sickly plop, melting into a viscous pile of white slime. The next just hung out, the socket meat making the sickly white orb twirl like a top, a top splattering eyeball puss and blood. Soon the thing's nails and teeth began to fall out and shatter against the floor. Gatti's stomach was doing cartwheels as its chest cavity split open and spills its entrails all over his feet, each gut exploding with more blood than they seems capable of carrying.

As the thing's other eye began to fall, there came a rumbling from within the empty creature's body, the face started to puff, as did the limbs and the tapering tongue within its toothless mouth.

Gatti tried to take a step, to see what it was doing, when it exploded in a hail of blood, flesh, and sinew all over the room. When pieces of it stopped falling, Gatti just stood there with a dumbstruck look on his face, still holding his sword up, with blood all over him. He blinked finally as the thing's tongue slid off its perch on his nose, and spoke the two words that best described what he was thinking. "That's disgusting."

"Mhhhmmppphhhpp." Hiero agreed from the side. Gatti suddenly felt foolish for forgetting the young king and turned to see how he was faring. Hiero was still tied up, but the ooze ropes seemed to be melting off of him, but he was also covering in the strangely colored blood, a piece of muscles hanging down the middle of his head. H was staring at it cross-eyed a moment, appearing positively humorous. Then the look became an angry cross-eyed look. Gatti thought he looked rather funny, but kept it to himself as the ooze ropes dripped loose, allowing Hiero to get off the pillar. He yanked off the gag furiously and started to spit vehemently.

"That is by far….the most disgusting thing I have ever met and most disgusting death I have ever endured. Bleh!" he gagged, and vomited up fresh yellowish bile. He feverishly yanked the sinew off of himself and tried shaking some of the blood off, but to no avail. They were stuck with it until they got back to the cave. Gatti couldn't wait for a nice bath, his body was already starting to bee itchy and clammy.

When Hiero finally got up, Gatti had reached him. He got a dirty looked for his effort, but at least it was just that. Then came the slap, Hiero glaring at Gatti, who glared back astonished. "Why the fuck did you lie so much? Those things hurt like hell. I am not a circus freak, sleeping on a bed of daggers is not my idea of a relaxing afternoon….cough….," Hiero spat, coughing up more bile, then looked up at Gatti, almost apologetically," But….you did it, just like Chesta. Get in that room and claim your birthright. We both went through hell to earn this, go on."

Gatti nodded, but grabbed Hiero by the arm and dragged him off behind him. Hiero didn't protest, so he saw it a as a good thing. He let go once they got inside the room, an altar in his sights with the symbol of Truth all over it, a silvery-blue light shining down upon it.

"Destiny….place your naked hands upon the sacred altar of Gaia's second child, Truth. You have proven you are truly Truth reborn." The voice from earlier spoke up, nearly scaring the both of them.

Gatti obeyed, pulling his gloves off and tossing them to Hiero, who caught them easily in his own gloved hands. Gatti pressed his hands upon them, and soon his screams filled the room as the light took the room over.

Gatti was vaguely aware of anything else, but he heard Hiero say something, something that made him smile inside despite the pain. "Blue wings….like a storm."

~

Alessa was playing with Chesta, a game of tic-tac-to that seemed to have made everyone else irate because they kept losing, save for Chesta and Guimel who seemed to enjoy the little Mystic Moon past time. Chesta was the only one who seemed to get the hang of it and actually beat her. Dilandau was starting a fire on his own, off in his own insane world so he could stare at it blissfully. He was weird, that much was true. He wondered if he'd be so bold as to try and kiss it, or as nuts.

'He's a shrink's field day. Wonder why he acts that way? Rotten childhood probably, that's what all the nutjobs say is the reason. Makes me think adopting is pretty damned good….if he got adopted by a better family, maybe he wouldn't be such a whacko. Hmm, or maybe not, who knows and who cares….hell, Hiero does. Maybe he isn't all bad….maybe. Only time will tell.' She thought, vaguely aware Chesta had beaten her again, scratching his "X" in the ground with the burned stick he held.

"You hungry now? Or do you want to play again?" he asked quietly. Alessa looked up, smiling apologetically. She opened her mouth to say something, but someone else spoke for her. "Somebody say food? I'm starved." It was Hiero and Gatti, they were back. She stood up happily, glad she would be able to breathe freely with Hiero back, then she pinched her nose closed.

The air was foul, and she found out why when she saw the two young men. They were covered in a sickly green sheen of blood, some patches of their skin visible, but they smelled terrible, worse than rotten food that stayed too long in a trash bin. They smelled like roasted roadkill, and they didn't look so good either, like they'd been dyed green. She heard other disgusted groans too, watching poor Chesta teeter over cupping his hands over his mouth.

Hiero blushed, his face looking a bit weird under the green color, like poison ivy skin. Gatti was stifling a giggle, looking at the ceiling. "But first….we bathe….we have to leave this place anyway, better we go now." Hiero spouted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Why tom….ugh…tomorrow?" Alessa asked. "Hiero saw the Temple of Light in a vision when I became the Angel of Truth. It's past the mountains somewhere…..but, it's was also a vision with Folken in it. He knows where we are and he's coming for us. Best we leave now and find the next temple for Migel…." Gatti announced.

~

"Whatever, we'll be in the tunnel while you two refuse piles scrub. Oh ick!" Alessa gagged, unable to take the smell anymore. She ran right past them, flanked by Chesta and Migel. Dalet and Ryuon nearly plowed into them, Hiero and Gatti playfully sidestepping them each time they tried to pass until finally opening a path for them to run through, trying to hold their vomit in. Migel walked past, holding his nose and still looking like a snot with his head held high. Hiero snickered out," You're so cute when you're an asshole, Gaki Suteki." Migel's eyes bulged, since Chesta had told him what that meant. His grunted, or tried to and wound up blow air through his blocked nose, and gave himself a stuffed head pain. He started to gag the moment he let go and ran down the passageway.

Dilandau was still in the room, half staring at the fire and half staring at them. He didn't seem to look sick. He didn't look repulsed in any way. Hiero just shrugged and went for the water. It'd take months for the stench of that thing to wear off in here, so leaving was a great option.

Gatti and Hiero slipped into the water with their filthy clothes on and started dunking their heads and bodies. Only after several minutes went by did they notice Dilandau was sitting by the edge, watching them. "So….let's see them, Gatti." Dilandau ordered.

Gatti smiled at the request, but Hiero shook his head. He didn't need anyone peeking, especially Alessa. He didn't want her seeing his wings let along Gatti's. Mystic Moon people were all different from each other. She might think them demons if she saw them too soon. 'That's your father talking, idiot. Why are you such a wuss about your damned wings….Oh yeah, caused we're a damned race.' He thought.

"Go ahead, but take you armor off first. It doesn't smell anymore." Hiero coaxed, pulling off his own shirt after giving it a sniff or two. Gatti nodded, yanking his armor off and tossing it on the rocky shore. He then took a deep breath and made a strained face.

Dilandau just watched in awe, as if Gatti had sprouted flames, but truly he looked amazed. He admired the stormy blue wings that came out of Gatti's back, making the Dragon Slayer's lavender vest ripple a bit. A few of the sparkling feathers left the great wings that seemed to fill the room with their majestic expanse. One landed before Dilandau, and Hiero watching him curiously as he picked it up. "Like mother's eyes….the sea during a storm….she would have like to have seen this." He said lightly, then started when he realized he said it aloud. He dropped the feather, and patted his pocket.

"I prefer the one I have….but excellent work Gatti. You may pull them in." Dilandau added snidely, looking at Hiero the entire time. Hiero grinned back, not even reacting as Gatti made a noisy breath, pulling his wings back inside his back. "I have things of beauty upon me….just like Chesta I bet. That means we all get wings….but, Hiero?"

"Hmmm?" Hiero asked, scrubbing at his hair. "You already have wings….what will you gain?" Gatti asked, scrubbing his torso a bit as he was taking his pants off, picking slime off.

Hiero thought a moment, then shrugged. For once, he honestly didn't know something. He hadn't really thought about that even when Chesta had donned his wings. Gatti seemed to pick up more on what was before him and Chesta more from books and experience, true or not. "I don't know, Gatti. I'll deal with it when it happens. Let's just get this shit off. The sooner this slime bag's innards are off of us, the sooner we eat and leave this dump. I hope you got Ryuon, Dalet, and Migel getting more supplies and such, Dilandau."

Dilandau nodded. "I am always prepared. I had them do it once they woke up. Since we'll be leaving, you should be extra grateful that I think so far ahead. I didn't survive this long just to let an amateur like Folken catch me. Hah!" Dilandau scoffed.

"Good enough for me….we leave as soon as we finish supper. Then….ahem….we'll walk to the mountains." Hiero said, averting his gaze.

"Why not fly? You, Gatti and Chesta all have wings, we can fly much faster over the mountains than climbing them. You want to waste my time?" Dilandau huffed.

Hiero didn't respond, absentmindedly rubbing at his bare back. Then he heard Dilandau snickering. "Oh I get it, its her, isn't it? You don't want her to see, that's why you said all that about Mystic Moon people. You're afraid she'll spit in your face when she sees you have wings….since she knows you didn't become an angel yet." Dilandau said triumphantly.

Hiero was sure he blushed several shades of red. "So what if I am?" He said indifferently. "You're in love with her." Gatti said suddenly, a statement, not a question. Hiero whirled on him, looking shocked. "What? Of…of course not, she's just a good friend." He sputtered, crossing his arms over his chest.

Dilandau even looked stunned, a faint blush creasing over his pale cheekbones, disappearing as soon as it had appeared, then he was grinning. "You're in love with the Mystic Moon jinx, same as your father was with your mother?" he asked, almost smugly.

"She's not a jinx….I….Uh…damn….It's none of your business what I feel. I don't ask you what throats you want to stick your tongue….down….never mind!" Hiero blabbed, then put his hand over his mouth to stop it.

Dilandau was still amused, but his eyes almost looked thoughtful. Almost. "True….but when you say it like that….you almost sound like you are in love with her. So you were peeping on her bathing. Hmm?" Dilandau spouted boastfully, as if it were the best secret ever kept and he'd discovered it.

"Only cause…..I was curious. Never seen a naked girl." He lied, knowing full well if he said anything, Dilandau would rip Alessa apart for peeping at all of them. The entire group wouldn't let her live it down if he told.

Dilandau seemed satisfied with the answer, and Gatti was grinning slyly. "Ok, this was fun, but let's try something else, like getting the smell off of us. Remember that Gatti, gross thing that blew up and puked on us? Huh?" Hiero snapped, finally able to stop blushed and slapped Gatti on the back of the head.

Gatti shook his head and stripped down to bathe the rest of his body. Hiero finally unfurled his arms to do the same, casting Dilandau a glance. Dilandau looked distracted a moment, staring off into space as if a sudden thought had trapped his mind. When Hiero waved his hand in front of him, Dilandau's nose wrinkled and the trance was broken.

"What was that for?" Hiero asked.

"Just a thought…..about the past. Nothing really. You didn't share, so I'm not going to. Hmmph….but….personally I think we should get rid of your little secret flame for a while. Women are bad luck, they always wind up getting hurt in battles."

"You sound like you're uncle. Oh!" Hiero replied, and got slapped, but smiled after looking back at Dilandau again," For shame. Try and be more open minded than that perverted male prostitute….it'll make you much better than him."

Hiero then moved away to further clean himself off, leaving Dilandau to walk back tot he fire and wait, the flames reflecting perfectly in his eyes like the raging insanity he felt, and the overwhelming jealous he had towards Gatti, Chesta and Hiero.

'To fly,' he thought with a grin, the playful flames licking at each other like wild lovers before him, making him take out the white feather and stroke his scar with it gently,' To fly like they can….how….lovely that will be. Yes. Very lovely.'

To be Continued….

*The Justice card here represents truth for the temple and Gatti's demeanor, but also Hiero fearful avoidance of revealing his wings to Alessa. The card mainly represents Gatti trying to commit to being utterly honest and doing what is right for once, not for himself. He is also assuming responsibility for his actions and setting a course for his future.

**Gidaru is the currency on Gaia. No idea what it looks like though.

Teaser: Brave, Brave Sir Val and Myrna! A quest for Freid and the Angel of Courage must awaken! Also, Val's horn goes too far!