Disclaimer: Forgot to put this in the first chapter I think. _ I own nothing Suikoden. There. Done.

A/N: I'm really quite surprised at how well you all took the fact that I killed off half the zexen knights. I'm very glad though! I was sure I'd be fighting flames for days. Anyway, thank you so much for your wonderful reviews, they mean so much! Athena, now that you mention it, it IS hard to picture Nash between the ages of 22 and 37. Oh well, I think he's great at both ages! ^.~ _________________

Chapter Two - Favor

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Chris stared in utter shock at the tall figure before her that she knew to be Nash Clovis; former comrade and travel companion, despite the fact that she partnered up with him while he was spying for the Harmonion Army - the very force she was up against at the time.

She was utterly baffled at his unchanged appearance. He must have been in his fifties, yet he looked as though he had hadn't even reached the age of thirty. He wore a familiar assortment of green and black Harmonian clothing, and his form was still lean and fit.

He was armed with his usual knife, which was sheathed by a belt that hung around his waist. However, there were two unfamiliar long swords that also hung sheathed on either side of him. She had not known Nash to be much of a swordsman, though he had claimed to be, because he had usually preferred the projectile weapons he shot from a contraption up his sleeve.

His hair was still blonde and slightly wavy, the front strands naturally falling to the right side of his face. His pale green eyes regarded her with all the confidence and wit that they usually held; there did, however, seem to be a darker essence about his gaze that was not there before.

He also still had that slightly irritating, overly arrogant smirk.

How could he still look so young? Chris reminded herself that Nash had always been mistaken for appearing younger than he was. When they first met, she was extremely surprised to find that he was actually thirty-seven years old. But even so, it was hard to believe that anyone could maintain such a youthful appearance all the way into their fifties.

"Hello Chris." He said holding her gaze.

Chris blinked. She tried not to blush when she realized she had been staring at him for quite some time. Nash didn't seem to mind though, for he just stared right back at her, waiting for a response.

She cleared her throat, mumbling several incoherent words before she finally managed to ask, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, of course." He replied simply, and then added, "I must confess though, it wasn't easy. If it wasn't for your unmistakable, radiant beauty that causes you to stand out in any crowd, I might not have recognized you in such an elaborate evening gown. I must say, Chris, you look simply astounding. That rune is treating you well. You haven't aged a day since I last saw you."

"But. But what about you? You haven't aged either! At all!"

Nash shrugged nonchalantly. "I suppose you could say I have my own methods for maintaining a youthful appearance."

"Methods?"

"You never answered my question."

"What question?"

"I asked if you'd care to dance."

"Oh, um. . . erm." As a matter of fact, Chris didn't care to dance. Had she not just told Salome of her vow never again to unleash the chaos upon the dance floor that was her dancing?

Nash stepped in closer, picking up on Chris' hesitance in answering. "Let me rephrase that: Dance with me or I'll be forced to do something drastic and kiss you in front of all these people who are staring at us."

It was clear from the sardonic smirk on his face that he was joking, but her face flushed when she realized that people were indeed looking at them, including Louis. Apparently, they were curious as to who this acquaintance of their captain could be.

Chris straightened. She had learned, to some extent, how to deal with such eccentric comments from having spent so much time with him all those years ago, and she thankfully, hadn't forgotten.

"As it is, I suppose the former option is the lesser of two evils."

He raised a brow. "Don't be so sure you'll get out of the latter so easily."

Chris' eyes slanted menacingly, but before she could retort, he touched her arm and guided her out onto the dance floor.

Chris was nearly overcome by self-doubt when a slow waltz started. Even after nearly twenty-five years of attending these balls, she really didn't know the first thing about dancing. She visibly stiffened as Nash stepped in and slid one arm around her waist while grasping her other hand in his. She had only been this close to him once before, and it was a memory she tried to avoid.

"I take it you're not much of a dancer." Nash stated with a grin upon seeing how awkward she seemed.

"Don't be so smug," She grumbled, "This will probably be worse for you than it will be for me."

But Nash was already leading her into a slow waltz, and after stepping on his feet only four times, she managed to muddle through the cycle of simple steps without causing Nash to grimace in pain.

He held her close, which made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she was not surprised. Nash never did have much respect for people's personal boundaries. She forced herself to stay focused. She had to know what this was all about.

"Out with it then." Chris said suddenly. "I'm not going to play guessing games with you. Why are you here?"

Nash sighed. "Chris, Chris. It's been twenty years! Can't we do some catching up first?"

"No."

He chuckled. "No surprise there. You always did hate small talk."

"Not specifically. I just hate wasting words on you."

"Ouch."

"Well?"

"Right then. As always, straight to the bottom line. I need your help." He looked straight into her violet eyes, and at this distance she found she couldn't look away.

She tried to remain resolved about being inquisitive, not willing to help without knowing the full details. "Nash, I have my duties here, you know that. If this is another spying job you're on from Harmonia - "

"It's not."

"It isn't?"

Nash hesitated slightly. "No. This is. . . This is something quite personal."

The song ended and the two stopped dancing, but neither parted. Nash's face became solemn, and his eyes seemed to be pleading with her.

"I'm. . . Not sure that I understand what you mean." She replied finally, though her tone was much softer now.

"Then say you'll at least hear me out, Chris." He practically whispered. There was an odd element of desperation in his voice.

For a brief moment, Chris considered turning him away. She had responsibilities of her own without listening to another's problems. Besides, what good had listening to this haughty Harmonian ever done her?

Instantly, she knew that was unfair of her to think. Nash had been her sole support for many weeks, months even, while they were traveling together in the Grasslands and when she was learning to deal with the powers of the True Water Rune. When times were bad, Nash had always been there as her confidant, as hateful as she was to admit it.

She knew the real reason she was hesitant to help was because of fear. Fear of him. Their time together during the war involving Grassland, Zexen and Harmonia had been unique, to put it simply, and Chris still harbored a complex contradiction of emotions towards the man; emotions she still was unable to put names to, even after all this time.

She shook her head, and realized that Nash was still waiting for a response. They were still standing in the middle of the dance floor in each other's arms, but stalk still amongst the whirling couples that where dancing around them.

She stepped back from him, breaking contact with his body, but still holding his gaze.

"Let's go someplace where we may talk privately."

A shadow of his old smirk returned. "There we go. I must admit, for a brief moment I feared you might decline."

"I said I'd listen." Chris reminded him.

Nash nodded. "Of course."

The two moved through the throng of dancers until they came upon an empty balcony, which was high above the ground. Nash leaned his elbows against the railing while Chris kept her distance a few feet behind, waiting for him to start.

He took in a deep breath. "I am on a personal mission. It has taken me a long time to get started, but now that I have, I won't stop until I have succeeded."

"What is this mission?" Chris asked.

"To keep promise I made to my late wife."

"You mean. . . She has died?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry." She said simply, unable to think of another way to respond.

Nash closed his eyes. "Me too."

"How did it happen?"

He turned his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Well . . ." Chris began awkwardly. "Obviously her death was premature. She must have been fairly young still."

To Chris' surprise, Nash chuckled slightly. "I wouldn't say that."

She stared at him blankly, uncertain of how or if she should respond.

To her relief, Nash continued without any further prompting. "But you are right, it wasn't a natural death. She was killed. As well as fulfilling my promise to her, I have vowed to avenge her death by killing her murderer."

"She was murdered? By who?"

"I'm not sure. She didn't have enough breath left to tell me. . . We both had some time off work and were spending it up North in a small forest. It's a quiet place we go to occasionally. Anyway, in the dead of night we were attacked. . . By who I cannot say, because I had taken a surprise blow from behind. I was knocked unconscious. When I came to, she was dying. There was. . . nothing I could do. In her last minute of life she made a final request. . ." He trailed off, his voice wavering slightly.

There was a long silence, and Chris felt he needed encouragement to continue. "And what was that?"

He hesitated. ". . .To find the Blue Moon Rune and protect it from her killer."

Silence fell between them again as Chris attempted to process this information.

"I've heard of that rune. . . It's one of the 27 true runes."

"Yes."

"I heard that the rune has a blessing and a curse. Eternal youth and phenomenal power. . . But eternity as a vampire.

Nash nodded. "My wife owned that rune."

"That explains why she wants to protect it." Chris said, but suddenly her eyes widened. "Wait a minute! If your wife owned that rune, that means. . ."

"She was a vampire." Nash finished. "Not just any vampire, but the first, the most powerful. My wife was Sierra Mikain."

There was an extended silence as Chris awkwardly stared at him, unable to comprehend what he was saying. Was he joking? 'The' Sierra Mikain? That vampire must have been at least 1000 years old!

"I can see you hadn't been expecting that." Nash said finally, a faint glimmer present in his eyes. He always liked to catch people off guard.

Chris blinked, finally snapping out of her disbelief. "No, I hadn't. But if she had the rune, and was somehow killed, does that mean that the killer has it now?"

Nash shook his head. "No, but the one who murdered her was undoubtedly looking for it. However, a few months prior to her death, Sierra sealed the rune somewhere. She wouldn't tell me where or why. . . But I think she must have had glimpses of the future from the power of the rune. She probably chose to seal it in a secret, safe place to keep it from falling into the wrong hands if something were to happen to her."

"If she knew it was going to happen, why didn't she tell you, or try to prevent it?"

Nash didn't answer for several long moments. "It is likely that she didn't tell me the rune's location so that I would be a useless information source to the enemy. That's really all I can figure. As for why she didn't try and prevent it from happening, I am not entirely sure, but. . ." Here he turned and looked Chris sadly in the eyes. "I know that Sierra was constantly suffering from the burden of the rune. 1000 years. . . Is a long time for a soul to wander the earth, Chris. A really long time."

"You don't mean that you think-"

But Nash lifted his hand, silently imploring her not to continue, and so she didn't.

"When did all this happen?" She asked instead.

"Five years ago."

"What have you been doing since then?"

There was a long moment of hesitation.

"Tying up loose ends." He replied eventually. "Finishing up contracts, selling what I no longer need, researching what I needed to find out, forming a successful plan; it's been a long five years. . .You see, I don't intend on returning to Harmonia. I think I'm finished with my life there."

Chris indistinctly realized she had been saying something very similar to Salome earlier that evening when she said she had finished her life in Zexen.

"Nash?" She asked finally. "Why have you come to me for help?"

Nash turned around and leaned back against the railings, smiling a little. "I needed help from someone with a True Rune. Besides. . . I knew I could count on you; you don't have the heart to turn me down." He winked, attempting to lighten the mood a little.

"That's rather presumptuous of you, isn't it? I have duties here after all! What makes you so sure I'd drop everything to help you?" Chris asked, slightly flustered at the comment.

"Perhaps in my mind I fancied that you and I had actually become friends during the war of the Fire Bringer." Nash replied, smirking. He loved getting a rise out of Chris anyway he could.

"Ha!" Chris retorted. "I'm sure. In *your* mind you probably 'fancied' that we were lovers, the way you used to try and engage me in such scandalous talk!" She regretted the words the moment the left her lips; she really shouldn't be so harsh in light of what she'd just learned about Nash's quest.

But the collected Harmonian simply raised an eyebrow and smiled, taking it all in stride. " 'Scandalous'? Are you sure you don't mean 'irresistibly seductive?' "

"No! I mean scandalous!"

"Haha! I won't deny it. But you must admit, Chris, it's part of my charm."

"I don't have to admit to anything!" Chris cried with rising indignation, and threw up her arms in defeat. "You never change!"

"Nor do you Chris. To say it's as difficult as it is to get under your clothes, it's delightfully easy to get under your skin. It's what I always liked about you."

Her face flushed with resentment and embarrassment, but she turned around and did her best to get the conversation back on track. "What do you need someone with a True Rune for anyway?"

"That's simple enough." Nash replied. "I may need to break the seal over the Moon Rune, and I need someone with a True Rune to do that. Anyway, as all True Runes are ultimately connected, it is possible that you can use the True Water Rune's power to discover where the seal is."

"How could I do that?" She asked.

"You could try connecting with the spirits of the rune." Nash answered.

She blinked. "Spirits? You don't mean. . . Yun?"

Nash nodded.

"I don't know. . ." She looked down at her right hand doubtfully. "I have never really been able to connect with Yun's spirit except for when I first got the Rune. I don't know too much about that sort of thing."

"Then go to someone who does."

"Like?"

"Yuiri and Yumi of Alma Kinan."

"You've got this whole thing planned out perfectly, don't you?"

He straightened and tugged on a pair of gloves. "Not really. Just the part about getting you into a position where you couldn't turn me away. So you'll help me then?"

Chris sighed and met Nash's eyes with a resolved gaze. She wanted to help him. For years, she had been looking for an excuse to get out of Zexen, and now was her chance. After a minute of silence, she sighed.

"As always, you win."

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A/N: I realize that at some point you may be able to foreshadow a good deal of the story, and if is the case, please don't leave reviews saying what you think will happen. This isn't really a plot-twister, but I still want it to unravel on its own, know what I mean?

Also, I know Nash's 'real' last name is Latkje, but as far as we can tell, Chris only knows him as Nash Clovis, so I'm sticking with that name, even though I like the other one better.

At any rate, I must thank all my readers and reviewers for continuing to read my story, I appreciate it more than you know! ^_^

Next Chapter: 'Memory'