JUST LOVE

Chapter Fifteen

"NO WAY!!!" Ryudo refused to believe that the Cathedral Knights used to be people. "I don't believe you, not one bit!!!"

"Believe whatever you want. I know what I saw," Lance countered coldly.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?!" Ryudo asked harshly.

Lance narrowed his eyes at the Geohound. "Hmph. Why won't you go back there and ask your friend Gatta? He would tell you the exact same thing."

"But, I don't think they'll turn all of their prisoners into Cathedral Knights. They'll probably use young men but keep women and children as hostages in case anyone tries anything," Melfice said calmly.

"The young men from Garlan and St. Heim are probably Cathedral Knights by now but we have to save the remaining prisoners," Tio suggested.

"We could, but Gatta would be expecting us next time we try something," Millenia replied.

"What we need is a plan," Roan told everyone.

Ryudo chuckled bitterly. "You actually trust this guy?!" He then turned to Elena who did not speak yet. "What about you Elena? Do you believe him?"

Elena looked into Ryudo's emerald green eyes, they were full of confusion and anger. She then looked away and spoke silently, her voice barely above whisper. "I believe Lance."

Ryudo felt a dagger in his heart. "You too?!!" he shouted.

Elena's face crumpled and Ryudo noticed. "Ryudo..." Elena whimpered.

"Elena... I didn't mean to..." Ryudo tried to apologize but Millenia cut him off.

"Hey!! You didn't have to yell at her!" Millenia scolded.

"Piss off!" Lance snarled under gritted teeth.

Tio gave Ryudo, Millenia, and Lance a stern look. "Please stop it. We do not have time for this."

Roan turned to the Automata. "Hey Tio, you are the opposite of Cathedral Knights, right?"

Tio nodded. "Yes."

Roan put on an inquisitive look. "Do you know how the Automatas were made? Were you mutated into what you are now like the Cathedral Knights? Knowing your origin might give us a clue on how to change Cathedral Knights back to people."

Tio shook her head. "I do not know anything about my origin. The only thing I remember from the past was the war between Granas and Valmar. But... maybe Elmo could tell us. She might know something."

Elena's eyes lit up. "Yes, you are right. We should go to the Birthplace of the Gods."

Millenia frowned. "Wait! Hold your Granasabers!! Isn't the Birthplace of the Gods found around Raul Hills? And isn't the Raul Hills area crawling with monsters? Remember what happened back at the picnic?"

"Maybe we should go to Cyrum first to get more prepared. We could get the Granasaber Ship fixed and upgraded for future uses. Also, I asked Paulk and his knights to investigate Raul Hills so let us see what they have found before we go there," Roan said.

"Everyone is tired too," Melfice added and eyed Ryudo. "...and some need to cool off."

"It is settled then. Our destination is Cyrum," Tio announced.

After that, there was a long, awkward silence in the ship. No one said anything to anyone, they just exchanged looks until they reached Cyrum.

***

Roan sat on his royal chair in his office with Tio, who stood behind him. Paulk stood in front of the Young King's desk to report on his various duties.

"Paulk gather our best engineers. We need the Granasaber Ship repaired and upgraded with weapons," Roan commanded.

"The Granasaber is parked outside Cyrum," Tio added.

Paulk bowed. "Of course your highness. Is there anything else I could do for you?"

"How did the repairs go from the Cathedral Knight's attack and how did your men's scouting mission from Raul Hills go?" Roan asked.

Paulk cleared his throat and spoke. "The repairs are complete, your majesty. Everything went according to plan. As for the scouting mission, my men learned that something drove away the monsters from the ruins, their nesting grounds. I found it hard to believe at first but dragon like creatures were responsible. With the monsters homeless, they have limited feeding and breeding grounds. Most monsters these days are either really weak or dying from starvation."

"Thank you Paulk," Roan smiled. "You may leave now."

"As you command, your highness." Paulk gave Roan a salute and left the office.

Roan sank on his chair. He was glad everything in the city was fixed and back to normal. But as problems are fixed, new ones present themselves. The dragons must be exterminated to return the Raul Hills back to normal, the Granasaber must be fixed, and there are Cathedral Knights, who run around and kill. They could stop the Cathedral Knights for good but that means harming innocent, mindless people. Roan let out an exasperated sigh, for someone his age, there was so much stress on him.

Tio walked over to Roan. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Roan?"

"Yes Tio?"

"I am a little scared about going to see Elmo tomorrow. I do not know what I will do if I and the other Automatas were made at the cost of innocent lives."

Roan got up from his chair and stood next to Tio. He gave her a smile and put his hand on her shoulder. "I am sure everything will be okay. Do not worry Tio."

***

Lance left Cyrum Castle and went to a hospital. He was in an office talking to a doctor. The doctor sat on his chair behind his desk while Lance stood against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "So, I heard you'll be here for awhile helping treat people who got injured from the attack."

The doctor nodded and adjusted his eye glasses. "Yes, but after that I'm going back to Liligue Hospital."

Lance chuckled. "Say hi to Doctor Drew for me just in case you get back there before I do."

The doctor shook his head. "Lance, what are you doing out here? Why aren't you back there with her?"

"I'd love to go back Dr. Ray but I have to take care of some things..." Lance replied. "...Cathedral Knights, Nekura, and Elena," he continued mentally.

"Did you find the girl you're searching for? It's Elena, right?"

"Yeah, I found Elena but I'm not going to do anything for now. I'll wait."

"What about the money for her? They won't keep her there if you don't pay them soon."

"I've got your money. I'm going to send it to them this evening. By the way, how is she? Any progress?"

"Still the same."

"What about Konril?"

"They're taking good care of it too."

"Good. Well, I better get going now. I'll see you soon." Lance sighed and left the office. He walked down a corridor with only one thing in his mind. "Rhea... my Rhea, hold on... I'll be there soon."

***

Ryudo stood in a balcony with Skye perched on the railing. The Geohound was confused and frustrated. He refused to believe that the Cathedral Knights used to be people. Deep down though, he knew it was true. Why did things have to turn out like this? First, he lost his parents when he was young, he was exiled from his town and had to work at a young age to survive, Gatta had gone sort of evil, and now some of the people from Garlan were turned into killing machines. He just seemed to be losing almost everything. It was not fair. What was he suppose to do the next time he encounters the Cathedral Knights? He cannot kill them. Ryudo let out a heavy sigh.

Skye watched Ryudo drown in his thoughts. He wondered if the Geohound had finally cool off. "Ryudo, are you okay now?"

Ryudo turned to look at Skye, he looked a bit dazed. "What was that Skye?"

"You okay?"

Ryudo scoffed. "Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better knowing that some of the people I knew and grew up with back in Garlan are now mindless puppets. What am I suppose to do the next time I see them?"

Skye shook his head. "I don't know but I'm sure Roan and Tio will find an alternative on how to deal with them. Elena would be for sure against killing them. Millenia and Melfice probably feel the same as you do. And Lance..."

"...would still kill them." Ryudo cut him off. "That guy doesn't give a damn about anything or anyone, even us."

"You know, he seems to like Elena. She's the only one that he really talks with. Elena sort of likes him too."

"I noticed too." A scowl formed on Ryudo's face. "I don't see why Elena would even come close to that guy."

Skye saw Elena coming. "Speaking of which... I'll see you later Ryudo." Skye spread out his wings and took off.

Elena entered the balcony and smiled at the Geohound. "Hi Ryudo."

"Elena? What are you doing here?" Ryudo asked.

She stood next to him. "Why? Can I not come here too? I just came here to watch the sunset!" There was a bit of bitterness in her voice. She loved Ryudo very much and it hurt that he was pushing her away. She knew Ryudo has things to take care of before she could tell him her feelings. But she wants to help him as a friend in his journey but Ryudo would have none of it.

Ryudo ignored her tone. "Elena, will you still fight the Cathedral Knights?"

Elena clasped her hands together on her chest sadly. "I do not know... I cannot harm innocent people."

"Same here," Ryudo said.

"I just hope we learn something from Elmo tomorrow."

"Elena... about tomorrow..."

"Do not ask Ryudo. I will go to the Birthplace of the Gods tomorrow with you." Elena turned around to leave, her back facing the Geohound. A small tear escaped her ruby red eye and flowed down her cheek. "I will stand by your side Ryudo no matter what," she thought and left.

***

Millenia walked down a sidewalk. She got bored back in the castle so she decided to stroll around. As she walked around, she saw people in the streets. They were all busy, each doing his or her own thing. Most of them were probably content and peaceful with their lives. But how long will that last? What if Gatta and the Cathedral Knights came to take them away? Would she have the heart to stop them? Would she try...

Millenia mentally kicked herself and laughed silently. She used to be the Wings of Valmar and that the only thing she wanted was to devour the other pieces whether it was the cost of a little girl's life or a fat slob's. Journeying with Ryudo changed all of that. She learned to care, she learned to love, she learned how to be human. In some obscure way, it felt great until Ryudo's rejection. It hurt not to be wanted and she wanted to get rid of the pain. She wanted to be back to her cold, unfeeling, selfish old self so she would become immuned to emotions like pain as before. But she could not, she tried to change back but failed miserably. The crack on the wall between herself and her emotions that Ryudo and the others made was too deep.

Millenia sighed. She hoped that the pain would stop soon. "It has too..." she said to herself and turned around to go back to Cyrum Castle. Little did she know that two men followed her the whole time.

The red head decided to take a quick short cut by cutting through a park. The park was quiet and empty like something bad was bound to happen as in movies. Millenia decided to take a break and sat down on a swing. She looked up to the darkening sky and wondered about what Roan and Tio told her before; will she ever find the right man for her? Millenia just scoffed at the thought. If she did find the right guy, he would probably just leave her like Ryudo did. No, she would rather be alone rather than get hurt again.

Millenia stood up to leave. She then heard a crackling noise from behind. She turned around and looked at her surroundings carefully. "It was probably a Carro or something," she thought and turned back around. Before she could take a step forward, a pair of strong arms seized her from behind. She let out a gasp and her body shivered as she was roughly kissed on her neck.

"Hey, how about you and I get comfortable somewhere?" the man behind her purred.

Millenia snarled. "Piss off!!" She stomped on the man's foot and elbowed him on the stomach. The man groaned in pain and loosened his grip. Millenia broke away free from his hold and ran a few steps. She turned around to face the intruder and raised her arm in the air for a Spell Binding Eye. Before she could use her technique, another man from behind pushed her down to the ground. Millenia fell on her stomach.

The man bent down to the ground and rolled Millenia onto her back. He climbed on top of her and pinned her down. His legs were on top of hers and his left hand held both of her arms above her head. Millenia could not move, all she could do was squirm under her assailant. The man chuckled and ran his free hand up and down her hip.

"Let go of me!!! Get off you son of a bitch!!!" Millenia screamed.

"Damn, you're hot and feisty!" the man laughed and kissed her forcefully on the lips. The man was about to reach with his free hand into her orange yellow, semi transparent skirt but a powerful hand grabbed the back of his neck and raised him in the air.

Melfice gave the man an ice cold glare and punched him on the face, sending him flying to a tree nearby. "Bastard!"

Millenia groaned in disgust and wiped the man's saliva away from her lips. "Shit! Gross!!" Infuriated, she got up from the ground and ran up to the man. He was about to get up but she kicked him on the face. The man fell back on the ground on his back. Millenia brought her right foot forward and stomped the area between the man's thighs. She stomped it again and crushed the man's most private spot with the heel of her shoe. "I bet you like this you pig!!"

The other man ran to his friend's side and helped him get up. "You're going to die bitch!!" he growled as he drew out a knife.

"Get away from her!!" Melfice shouted as he came running towards them with his Cardinal Blade.

The two looked at Melfice and realized who they were messing with. "It's the Demon Man!!" the two gasped and cursed at themselves. "Let's get the hell out of here!!" The men backed away and then bolted out of the park.

Millenia sighed to herself, her anger and rage drained out of her body. She hugged herself and started to tremble. Those men followed her around and she did not notice because she was lost in her thoughts. Those men were going to rape her, use her for their sick, twisted, and sexual pleasures. Millenia felt like dirt, the lowest animal on the planet, a toy. She could not believe what just happened.

Melfice sheathed his sword and walked up to Millenia. He stood behind her. "Millenia, are you okay?"

Millenia did not answer.

"Millenia?"

The red head turned around to face Melfice. Her ruby red eyes sparkled as if tears threatened to flood them. Her body and her lips shivered. "Melfice... I..." Millenia did not know what to say and did not feel anything else except that she felt dirty and used. Overwhelmed with the past events, Millenia mindlessly threw herself at Melfice and hugged him tightly. Quiet sobs escaped her lips and rivers of tears flowed down her cheeks. "They... they... were... going to..."

Melfice was a bit surprised. Slowly, he wrapped his left arm around her waist. He then pat her back with his right hand. "It's all right," he whispered gently and brought her closer to him.

"I... I... just..." Millenia looked up to his emerald green eyes and shook her head.

Melfice wiped her tears away and embraced her tighter to stop her from shivering. He smiled weakly and returned her gaze. Millenia put her head on his shoulder and the tears that Melfice wiped away were replaced by another stream. Melfice sighed heavily and rested his head on top of hers. "Don't worry, I'm here."