"I can't stay with them.. because if I do, they might be put into unneeded danger.. like Dias. I'll find the men myself. I need to know what they are planning on doing. If I'm alone.. they might come after me rather than Noel and Chisato. They must be looking for me.." Rena murmured under her breath, as she left the now darkened village of Mars. She would go to the port and find information on the men, or Noel and Chisato. Traveling alone would be easier, for there would be less supplies needed, and pacing would be simple as well. She was confident enough to be able to slip past monsters between towns as well. The young woman hurt inside though, knowing that she had left the others without prior notice... and she had even ended up leaving Dias and Ashton behind as well. She hoped that she wouldn't meet up with the latter for a while. He would probably not be happy with her... she knew that she would have hurt him by her leave, even though he was the one she wished not to hurt the most. At the same time, she knew that she would simply cause him more pain if she were with him...
"..Ashton.." she shook her head. "I can't regret now.. it's too late. If I find Noel and Chisato quick enough, I'll be able to persuade him that I did what was best," at least, so she hoped. She started off in the direction of the port, heart pounding like crazy. She didn't want to get caught before she did anything of importance.
~~~
Ashton awoke rather early in the morning, if he did say so himself.
He got up slowly, careful as to make sure not to wake Rena up. He paused
for a second though, noticing that some of her things were missing. He
turned toward her bed, then widened his eyes. She wasn't there, but her
hairpin was left. He stood, made his way to the bed and felt the sheets.
They were cold.
".......oh no."
He barged into Celine's room, which made the woman get up in a fright and hide in her sheets. "What in the WORLD do you think you're doing, darling? Do you know what time it is?! It's still morning, and I need my beauty sleep--"
"Rena's missing! I wanted to know if she said anything to you about leaving." he interrupted, holding up her hairpin. "She didn't leave any notice anywhere in her room, but most of her things are missing, except for this... you don't think she left without us, right...?"
"Darling... did you check up in Dias' room?"
"She's not there."
"How long has she been gone?"
"I don't know for sure, but probably a while... the bed was already cold."
"...you must be kidding me..." Celine sat up, putting a hand on her head. "Darling, we don't have time to be sitting here! We have to find her. Let me get changed, and we'd better head for the port. I have a feeling she's headed that way, since the other way is the castle and Arlia. I doubt she would have returned home without any news about the men. Give Claude and Precis a call, tell them to be on the lookout for her!"
The young man nodded, catching the cell phone when Celine threw it,
and rushed back to his room to get changed as well and to
make the call.
The two joined up in the hallway, Celine fussing about how she hadn't had time to fix up her hair much, but saying she was too worried about the other woman to fool around with it longer. "This is mainly your fault, you know that, right, darling?" she complained, "She was in the same room as you, and you let her leave?!"
"I was asleep," Ashton admitted, lowering his gaze, "I didn't hear her wake up."
"You are an idiot." Celine shrugged. "Let's get going, darling. You told Claude and Precis about Rena darling right? They didn't have any other information when I spoke to them yesterday. Now we're in a bigger mess than before... oh this is just lovely, darling!" when she turned toward the young man, she found he had already started outside of the inn. "H--hey, wait a minute!! Are you even listening to me?"
~~~
Rena sat down in the port tavern, burying her head in her hands. She hadn't found any information on anyone as of then, and she hadn't planned on staying the night there. The ship wasn't bound to Lacour until a few hours, and she could find no where else to rest. She ordered a glass of juice to occupy her as she waited. She had heard that the tavern would be a good place to find information, but even eavesdropping on the people around her didn't seem to help. She had only been there for a few minutes when a rather large man approached her.
"Hey, honey, what are you doing here?"
She simply gave him a side glance and shook her head, giving no reply.
"Mind if I sit next to you?" he sat down, then scooted his chair closer to her. "Why are you hiding your face, sweetheart? Something bad happen to you? Boyfriend dump you or something?"
She shook her head again.
"Listen sweetheart, I'm not here to talk to your arms. Let me see your face." he reached over, grabbing one of her arms and pulling it away from her face. Before he could move the other one away, he found a knife pointed down toward his neck.
"Get away from her."
Rena felt the stranger's hand pull away and glanced up toward who had helped her. The large man stood slowly, shaking his fist toward the other man as he left. Her helper took a seat next to her, and waited while she blinked at him twice.
"Razp..?"
"Howdy, hon, been a while, eh? How've you been?" the young man cheerfully asked, putting his knife away. He waved his hand and gestured for the barman to pour him a drink. "I wasn't expecting you to go out traveling by yourself. I thought Ashton would be with you."
"..I left him in Mars."
"Dumped him already huh?" he leaned forward. "Poor guy."
"May I ask why you know him?"
Razp nodded slowly. "I met up with Ashton about a year and a half ago, when he was looking to uncurse himself. I thought that the two dragons on him were cool, but I guess he didn't. I told him that I knew how to uncurse him, and he told me to do so, so I did. He didn't even listen to my warning ahead of time. Well, afterwards, we traveled together a little, while he tried to gain his skills back... I assume he told you the rest of the story...? Aha, sorry that I didn't tell you the first time I saw you, but he said to keep it a secret, so..."
"..so you were the mage that released him from his curse?"
"You could say that." he raised his glass to his lips. "Your turn. What are you doing here alone?"
Rena watched him silently for a while, then said, "I didn't want to cause anyone else trouble so I came out here alone. I'm looking for two of my old friends, because I have to warn them about something."
"About...?"
She pointed at her ears. "See these.. they prove that I'm not from around here. I'm actually from a planet called Nede, which was destroyed three years ago. There were only three survivors from Nede, and right now there seems to be someone after the remaining three Nedians on the planet." she smiled unhumoredly, "I know it sounds weird, but it's true."
"...well that must be hard on you." he leaned over and patted her on the back. "You sure you can make it anywhere without Ashton's help though?"
"I'm stronger than I look." she pouted. "Why are you here anyway? And why did you think to save me from that other man?"
"I'm here because I travel, remember? And about why I saved you, is because I don't want anyone else running around calling you sweetheart, okay?"
Rena blushed slightly, then crossed her arms. "If you see Ashton.. don't tell him that you've talked to me. It's about time for the ship to dock. I'm heading to Lacour."
"I don't know about that. You're probably worrying him a ton, aren't you."
"..I don't want to hurt him any further. Please, don't tell him."
Razp shrugged. "I'll think about it. Go onto your ship. I ain't stopping you."
The young woman gave a quick nod of the head and rushed off, leaving the man sitting alone at the bar. He stood up, smiling slightly to himself. "Lacour... huh. This will be interesting."
~~~
Rena stepped off of the boat, putting a hand to her forehead. The trip had taken a little longer than she had expected, but it was either taking this ship or waiting another day, which she couldn't afford. She glanced quickly from side to side, looking for any familiar faces, but finding none. Taking a deep breath, she started outside of the port, making sure not to step off of the road. She didn't wish to find random monsters which would delay her further. She walked far enough to be between the port and the next town, when she saw it growing dark, and felt herself getting tired. She knew it wouldn't be smart, but headed toward the forest, to look for a place to rest.
"Hey! Hey!!"
She turned, hearing a familiar voice, but seeing no one. She followed the direction of where she had thought she heard it, then ended up at a shabby shack in the forest. She eyed the area cautiously, then found that there was no one home. Or rather, that the place seemed unoccupied from the start. It must have been an old hideout that was forgotten about. It was getting darker, and she knew that she would rather stay inside in case the weather changed in the morning.
"Hello?" she attempted. There was no reply. The light in the shack seemed to still work when she flipped it on, but it was faint and barely existent. She knew she could make do with it for the moment. The young woman sighed, taking a seat next to the light. The shack was empty spare for the small light, and it smelled of rotting wood. It seemed fairly clean considering though, and she felt safe enough. She wished that she had brought a flashlight. Pulling out a piece of paper from her purse, she settled down to write in her journal.
~~~
Rena awoke the next morning, without noting that she had fallen asleep. Her journal paper was laid out in front of her, half finished, and her pencil had found its way to the center of the room. She got up slowly, and gathered her supplies, getting ready to depart again, when she heard the same familiar voice.
"Hey! Hey!!"
She whirled around, then found no one. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. It must have been her imagination. She hadn't heard anyone...
"Rena."
She pursed her lips together and started outside, going around the shack a full time once, trying to find out who it was. Again, she found no one. She rubbed her eyes. "Who are you?" she ventured to call out.
"Rena, don't tell me you've forgotten me already." it was a young woman's voice. She could recognize it any day, but she couldn't see anyone.
"Mother? Mother, where are you?" Rena paused. ::This can't be.. my mother was..::
"Over here, honey."
The young woman warily started toward the direction of the voice. Sure enough, when she had walked a few steps, she could see her mother standing in the middle of two bushes, a smile on her face. The Nedian rubbed her eyes. "Mother? What are you doing here? ..did I.. die?"
"No, what are you talking about? I came back to visit you. Just like Cecille did to Dias."
Rena stepped back, her eyes instantly narrowing. "..no, you're not my mother. What did you do to Dias?!"
Westa frowned, her arms crossing. "Rena dear, don't you recognize your own mother?"
"What did you do to Dias?" she repeated.
"... I guess I cannot fool you." Westa's image faded slowly into one of a young man, with short blue hair. He stood about a head and a half taller than her. She stepped back once more. "Dias is having a peaceful sleep. Didn't you see how calm he looked? He's happy as is. It's better in the dream world for him rather than his normal world. Think about it, he is back with his family. You should be happy for him."
"Help him back to normal!" she looked up so she could eye him in the face. "What you're doing is wrong! Why are you--"
"I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just giving him the happiness that he wanted. I can help you achieve happiness as well. You can join him in his dream world..."
"No."
"He has no reason to live. Everything important to him was taken from him years back. He has no one left for him. Therefore, he'll stay like that until he finally passes away and can truly achieve his happiness."
"No..!"
"Tell me then. What does he have left in this world now?" the man smiled slowly, mockingly. She took a deep breath.
"He still has me left. He also has new friends. He won't lose to his imagination!" Rena jumped back, raising her arm, then calling out, "Press!"
The man leapt out of the way of the spell, then shook his head slowly. "You're too innocent, now, aren't you!"
He unsheathed a sword, larger than the others that Rena had seen before. She stepped back, and fell undaintily down onto the floor. "You see this?" he said, flipping it over and into his other hand, "This is a sword you wouldn't see anyplace else. It is from Nede."
"Nede..!"
"It has the power to shatter anything into pieces. Do you understand?" he easily waved it to the side, causing the tree next to him to break apart into billions of small pieces of pebbles. Rena gasped. "I can do the same with people as well. Would you like me to test it?" He stepped a few steps toward her. She froze in place, her eyes going from the sword to the stranger and then back. "I apologize," he said slowly, raising his sword and plunging it once into the ground in front of her. A large gap formed in the dirt, flinging pieces of pebbles everywhere. "I have been rude not to introduce myself. I guess you should at least know who will be freeing your soul from dirty Expel, eh? I am Mizt. A fellow Nedian of yours."
"Nedian..! How did you.."
"I've no need to answer silly questions. You can question me all you like if you can defeat me. But that is... after you escape my blade!"
The man raised his sword up high, and thrust down. Rena's eyes closed automatically and she opened her mouth to scream, when she heard someone call out:
"STOP THAT!"
The young woman felt someone grab a hold of her and spin away from the blade, which ended up solidly back into the ground. Another spray of pebbles showered over her and she cringed, opening her eyes. Celine stood a few feet away from her, eyes narrowed and glowering toward Mizt, and Ashton squeezed her gently, glancing back toward the other man as he asked, "Are you alright?"
"..Ashton.. Celine.. what are you two--"
"No time for questions, darling," Celine said, putting her hands together to cast a spell. Before she could finish, she found the sword slashing the air in front of her and stepped back a few feet. She moved her arms up to shield her face from the spray of pebbles.
"She's right," Mizt grunted, whirling back around with the sword. "There's no time for this...!"
The next thing Rena knew, the sword was heading back toward her, and Ashton spun her around so that he would take the impact of the blow. Her mouth opened in shock as she saw the sword slice into the man's body, and his eyes widen.
"Re...na..." he managed to say before he was broken into pieces in front of her face.