"NO!" Rena sat up, wiping her forehead with her hand. "..a nightmare..?" she dropped back down onto the bed, whimpering softly. She heard the bed next to her shift and glanced toward it. Ashton was watching her, a concerned look on his face.
"What's wrong?"
"I had a nightmare." she said simply.
"About...?"
She shook her head, sighing. "Nothing really. I have a feeling if I talk about it, it might actually happen. I think I'll just try and forget about it."
He got out of his bed and moved to hers, putting a hand on her head. "Well, if you say so. You shouldn't worry about nightmares..."
"Yes.. there are many more important things to worry about, aren't there.."
"...there are? Like what?"
Rena paused, eying him in the face. "Ashton? You know.. like looking for Noel and Chisato."
"What are you talking about? Are you sure that you're okay? You must be confusing reality with your dreams." he took a seat on her bed, leaning over to give her a hug. "Why are we looking for Noel and Chisato?"
"Y--you know.. the men who attacked Arlia.. we have to.. find Noel and.." her eyes scanned the room. "Wait.. is this.. Arlia!?"
"Of course it is, Rena." the young man said patiently. "You seem a little pale..."
"Why am I in Arlia.."
"What are you talking about? Rena... Rena... please. Explain."
"Didn't Arlia get attacked?"
"Not that I know of."
"But.. but.." a small tear appeared in the corner of her eye. "I don't.. understand. What is today? What is going on?" she moved her hand to his back. "You don't have your dragons. When did you come here? What is.."
"Rena, try to remember. You must be stressed out. I came back to Arlia yesterday, remember? I... told you that I returned because I loved you. ...Rena..." he leaned forward, moving her face toward him. "Don't you... remember?"
"..I don't understand.."
He pulled her up and into his arms. "Rena! Wake up, please. What do you mean you don't understand? W...hy?" he leaned down and nuzzled her shoulder, then glanced up again, a hurt expression on his face. "Rena... you're not kidding, are you..."
"..Ashton.. why.." she returned the embrace, beginning to cry. "Why don't I remember?!"
The young man tilted her face back up, moving down to place his lips on hers. She let him, holding him tighter. "Rena..." he pushed her gently back down on the bed, blushing. "You'll remember... eventually... so..."
Her eyes widened as he slid his hand into her shirt and down from her shoulder to her arm. "...let me stay with you tonight..."
~~~
"Rena!! Rena darling!! Snap out of it!!" Celine called out, her eyes widened. She stepped back, eying Mizt in shock. "What did you do to her!?"
Rena sat silently, holding onto Ashton's limp and bloody body. Her eyes were blank, and Celine could tell she was murmuring things that she couldn't hear. "Rena darling! ...Ashton! ...you're not dead now are you? Do something about Rena darling! OoohhH! How dare you leave this all up to me!" she narrowed her eyes. "You do understand how unfair you are being, correct, darling?"
Mizt simply smiled, without emotion. "I just sent both of them into a dream state. They'll be fine. Though I doubt that either would be waking up soon." he brandished his sword. "Next will be you."
"Not so fast," Celine said, raising her arm and chanting, "Burn to death! Explode!" She watched the spell envelope him in flame, and was shocked to find him standing in the middle of it, unscathed. "Wind Blade! Thunderbolt! Starlight!"
Mizt shrugged the spells off easily, not bothering even to move aside. "It's no use, Miss magic user. I'm protected by any magic spells from anyone. I'm invincible now! You cannot defeat me."
"Take this," Celine cried out, "Oh come shooting stars!! Meteor Swarm!" She stood silently, knowing that if this spell didn't work, she would be in major trouble. When the spell faded, she eyed the area that he had been standing in, ready to flee if need be. He was nowhere to be found. "Did I... do it?" she glanced around once more, then scratched her head. "Well... that wasn't too bad..."
"Or not."
She spun around, hearing his voice, but it was already too late. The sword plunged straight through her stomach, and she flew backwards into a large tree. Sinking down, she placed a hand on the wound, wincing as she saw the blood stain enlarge on her clothes. "...you'll pay for that..." the woman stood up, using the tree for support.
"Why do you bother to stand again? I may have left you be if you don't bother to fight."
"...do you think I'm just going to leave my friends here like this? I need to get rid of you and help them out..." she managed to say before she found herself spitting out blood. She put a hand over her mouth, then wiped the blood away. "I'm not planning on ending my life here. That's your role!"
"I like you." he said slowly, raising his eyebrow. "Risking your life for a friend, hm? Very noble."
"Why don't you shut that mouth of yours?! ...southern cross!" The light spell fell upon him, but did no damage. She cringed and dropped down to one knee. "You are impossible, darling," she said.
"I take that as a compliment." Mizt took his time to walk to her, using the edge of his sword to knock her down onto the floor. He kicked her once, then crossed his arms.
"This is no way to treat a woman, don't you know?" she demanded, trying to stand back up. He kicked her back down.
"You're interesting, but I've had enough of you. Say goodnight, woman." he raised his sword, but before he could push it back down, he could feel a sword edge pointing toward his back. Celine's eyes widened and she backed away as much as she could manage. "What...you...!?" Mizt hissed, glancing back, "You should have been..."
"You overestimate your power." Dias spoke, pulling his weapon away as the other man dropped his. "You can't control more than two people at a time, can you. At least, not with any decency. Did you think that a simple dream would be keeping me from battle?"
Mizt grabbed his sword from the ground, spinning back around toward Dias. Dias had already anticipated the attack, and his sword plunged into the other man's heart. Mizt's eyes widened, and he dropped to the floor, sinking down as Dias pulled the sword back out. "...no... not here," the man grunted, "I can't...die here..." he lifted an arm, grappling for his weapon, but unable to find it.
His eyes slowly closed and he fell forward. Dias eyed the other man's
figure for a while, then slammed his sword back into Mizt.
"I might have forgiven you for what you did to me, but I see that you
hurt Rena as well. You can regret about that in the afterlife, scum!" Dias
glanced toward Celine, then added, "Are you okay?"
"I--I'm fine, thank you," Celine managed to say, "But I can't believe what he did to my clothes. Blood stains are hard to get out, you know!" she eyed the dead man carefully. "What was he wearing in order to survive my magic anyway? Reflective armor?"
Dias had already left her and was eying Rena's state. Although Mizt had been eliminated, she seemed to be in the same state they had left her. He moved Ashton aside and eyed her closely. "Rena darling," Celine called out, making her way toward the young woman, a hand on her wound. "Wake up, darling." she leaned forward, seeing Rena's mouth move slowly. "What?"
"..I don't understand.. Ashton.. no.. please.. stop."
"Rena darling. Can you hear me? Ashton darling is dead. ...or at least he WILL be if you don't hurry and wake up! Rena darling?! Hello~!" Celine's eyes turned toward Dias, shrugging. "What do we do?" she moved toward Ashton. "He's bleeding badly... and she doesn't look like she'll snap out of it anytime soon."
Dias silently tossed her a few bandages, and she set out trying to wrap them around Ashton's wound first, to try to stop the bleeding, then around herself. She leaned back against the tree, trying to catch some rest. Her body was overly weak, with lack of blood. She knew that she hadn't been hurt half as much as Ashton though, and watched Dias eye Rena for a while. The swordsman sighed, picking Rena up and shaking her once. When he got no reply, he dropped her back down.
"...Rena."
Celine sighed. "This is hopeless. Darling..." she turned to Ashton, "Hang in there. Rena will snap out of it soon enough... I hope." She turned back around just in time to see Dias raise his hand and slap Rena across the cheek. She widened her eyes and struggled to stand. "What in the WORLD are you doing, darling!? Rena darling won't--" she paused as she watched the young woman's eyes water slowly. Her eyes were slowly fading back to its normal shade. "--huh?"
Rena's hand went up to her cheek as she glanced around. "What.. is going on.." She gasped and scrambled to her feet, seeing Dias standing in front of her, with a horridly serious expression on his face. "Dias?! You're okay? Oh.. what about Ashton!?" she turned toward Celine, then gave another gasp. "Celine!! You're covered in blood!"
"Darling, don't worry about me, worry about Ashton darling," Celine said, gesturing to him. She pulled him up to her and gestured at the large wound on his back. "Hurry and take care of him or else he might be in trouble. We'll answer questions after that, okay?"
The young Nedian nodded and stepped toward Ashton, placing both hands on his back and shutting her eyes. She channeled her energy into him, up until she was out of breath. The wound faded, but he made no attempt to move. Celine flipped him over, with a little trouble. "He's still breathing, darling. He's probably just tired. He's lost a lot of blood." her eyes narrowed. "I think it might be better if you try a little more though. We don't want to lose him."
"But Celine, you need to be healed too." Rena said, but the other woman shook her head.
"Ashton darling comes first."
"..Celine.."
"Just hurry will you? This does hurt an awful lot..."
~~~
A few moments later, Celine was back to complaining about how she was to get the blood stains out of her clothes. Dias had left to investigate around the area, while Rena was crying on Ashton, who awoke fairly confused. "Rena?" he managed to question before he found her back in his arms, saying something about how she had thought she had lost him. He looked toward Celine, who took her time to stop complaining and flash him a quick smile and wink. He wrapped an arm around Rena, and sighed in content. "I'm glad you're okay though, Rena."
"Not as much as I'm glad that you are," the young woman responded immediately, looking up toward him with watery eyes. "Ashton.. I'm sorry for leaving you without telling. I really am..!"
"We'll worry about that later... we have other things to worry about now..."
She buried her head in his chest and he sighed again, shrugging.
"Darlings, it's no time to be lovey dovey, there's someone coming this way!" Celine said, examining the distance. She raised an arm and narrowed her eyes, ready to cast a spell if need be.
"Wait one minute!" a voice called out, and Rena and Ashton both exchanged glances. "It's just me!"
"Well, Mr. 'Me' sounds very suspicious," Celine countered, sending a firebolt toward the stranger before either of the other two could stop her.
Razp leapt out of the way of the spell, cursing when it caused the bush behind him to light on fire. He ran over to Ashton and Rena, scratching his head. "What's up with her? Talk about beautiful roses having thorns..."
"Would you two..." Celine crossed her arms, "...care to explain who this is?"
"I'm Razp," the man said instantly. "A friend of Ashton and Rena's. Or something like that." he looked around. "Well, it seems that all of you are safe. I hear that Dias is well too. I'm glad. You were able to see through Mizt's dream state. Hrrmph, he must have been nothing."
"Why do you know about all of this?"
"I have my ways." Razp shrugged and stepped toward Rena, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Well, I guess there was no need to tell Ashton where you were in the first place, was there? I'm glad that you've made it this far safely. I don't know how much further you'll get, though."
Rena turned toward the man, a question mark appearing over her head. "What do you mean by that? ..wait, why are you here in the first place?"
"Get away from her!" the group turned to see Dias make his way toward them, his face pale. He had his sword out in front of him. "Rena, stay back!"
"Dias? What are you talking about? This is Razp.. someone I know from a few days back.." Rena started. Dias went forward and swung toward Razp, who immediately ducked and appeared behind the swordsman. The young woman gasped. "What.."
"Rena..." Dias hissed, "This is the mage I said escaped me before!"
Rena's eyes widened. "..no way.."