Rated R (sorry!) for language and violence, etc. If you are offended by such, please do not proceed. Otherwise, enjoy.
The Characters and Story of Shadow Hearts belongs to Sacnoth and Midway. Again thanks to Gutterfiend for transcriptions, which I freely changed!
What went before:
Margarete was about to put the book back when she spotted a glimmer in the bottom of the satchel. Reaching in, she pulled out Yuri's talisman. It was blood red and glowing sickly. Margarete gasped. She had seen this talisman before, worn around Yuri's muscular neck. Moreover, she knew that Yuri needed to clear it before it got this dark. However, she had never seen it this blood red. Surely, that was not right!
Chapter 3: Dust and Memories
"You should have just died for it. I wanted you to lay down and die." - Koudelka
Yuri awoke to bleak daylight. He rose from his corner and, with the meager blanket still wrapped around him, wandered into the main room. His breath frosted and a quick look out the only window told him volumes.
"God damn it to hell!" With one hand, he scraped the sad window of its icy rime. "Shit! Snow!" With a sigh, he suppressed a shiver. "Well, nothin' for it but to check outside anyway. I need a fire. And more food," he muttered to himself.
Once outside he made his way around the small cabin, following the line of its shadow in the snow laden air to the back where he found a larger shadow in the whiteness. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a barn. Inside was little better than cobwebs, but he found some stacked wood for the fireplace.
"Assumin' I can find a way to light it," he grumbled. "Well," he sighed, "I can always use Inferno, if I can keep from burnin' the house down around me."
Before taking up the wood, he continued to the back of the barn. Dusty, moldy hay lay on the dirt floor along with some old dung pellets. Kicking through the hay Yuri's foot hit something metal that clanged against the barn wall. He bent down and pulled out an old rusted pitchfork, its wooden handle broken in half. Not one to waste anything he might be able to use, Yuri took the pitchfork and then went back for fuel.
The trip back across the snow had him panting with fatigue, but Yuri managed to bring a large stack of wood, enough for a few hours. This he laid in the kitchen stove, shoving out the spent ash. The next part was tricky. He wanted to set fire to the wood, but not the cabin. Moreover, he wanted to be able to use Inferno to hunt for food. The fusion soul had a strong killer instinct and Yuri knew it would hunt and kill with delight if he let it. However, he had to maintain control, not easy when the Fusionist is half starved!
With a deep breath, Yuri reached within. Touching that spot in him mind where his fusion souls resided. There was Death Emperor, his first fusion, the Symbol of Loathing. There too was Tornado, fusion of Wind and Time who gave him wings to fly. And Inferno, the Fiery Heart of death and violence. When it came to fighting, Inferno was at his best. All three of the fire souls loved the knockdown drag out fights and tended to get worked up over them. But not this time, Yuri hoped. Just a little he touched that fusion, letting the power and life that was Inferno's fiery heart flow into him, possess him and give him strength and power.
Standing well over six feet tall, the red hued, four-armed demon that was Inferno dwarfed the small cabin. With a finger placed within the wood, Inferno started a blaze, instantly burning to char the dust on the stove and sending a wave of heat throughout the room. With an almost negligent movement, Inferno slid the iron cap onto the stove, leaving it to heat the cabin, and then turned for the outdoors.
Snow was not his friend, but the burning of his soul kept him warm while he trod heavily through the frozen water vapors, covering acres of ground in minutes. About five miles down the valley, he came across a pack of wolves. They had harried a lone deer to its knees and were making a bloody meal of the beast. Inferno did not think they deserved such a morsel and, with a guttural growl, leapt across the intervening space, landing amidst the wolves. First with his two left arms then his right ones, Inferno smashed the wolf pack, sending bodies scattering. The wolf leader held his ground, snarling his defiance at the crimson giant, refusing to give up his meal. Inferno grinned and sent a ball of flame at the wolf, turning it into a living pyre. Satisfied, Inferno reached down, lifted the deer carcass to his shoulder, and bounded away.
Once returned to the cabin, Inferno retreated to the recesses of Yuri's soul. Yuri bit back a retort at his fusion. He had watched the whole thing through Inferno's eyes, allowing Inferno as much free reign as he dared in his weakened state.
'Sometimes I wonder 'bout these guys,' he thought, eyeing the bloody carcass Inferno had dumped without ceremony onto the kitchen floor. The wolves had begun devouring it and the entrails were hanging from its gut, but the rest of the small buck was intact. Yuri quickly grabbed the small knife and began cutting slivers of meat from one haunch, placing them on top of the stove and occasionally stuffing a raw gobbet in his mouth, happily chewing, the blood running down his chin. This he continued for several hours, slowly dressing the buck, placing thin pieces to cook on the stove, taking off the finished pieces and laying them aside. The innards he took out to the snowy meadow, tossing them for the scavengers.
Finally, stuffed and fatigued from his efforts, he wrapped himself in the shabby blanket and, settling next to the banked stove, fell into fitful sleep. The last thoughts on his mind were of Alice.
Walking back toward Prague, Alice and Zhuzhen took the lead, walking a good ten paces ahead of Yuri and Keith. Yuri carried the tent, bedrolls and the bag with their few supplies and Keith carried his saber. Yuri grumbled at first, but Keith reminded him he had freeloaded for a full month in the Blue Castle. Yuri smirked, remembering that he had also beat crap out of Keith at least once in that month, and took delight in it, even if he could not remember the details. As they walked, Keith kept up a quiet litany of his family's history; Yuri deigned not to listen to Keith's prattle, instead watching the sway of a certain short blue skirt. Swish, swish, went the skirt and Yuri's eyes followed every delectable movement, every flounce of white ruffles, even the movement of the long white-stockinged legs.
Yuri bit his lip in amusement, watching those legs. He had never noticed before; Alice was pigeon toed! Each mincing step she took made her perky little derrière sway in a luscious fashion and Yuri found himself grinning oafishly. It earned him a scowl from Keith.
"If you are not going to listen, at least have the courtesy to say so. Furthermore, staring at a young lady's back-side is quite rude," Keith said in heavy aristocratic tones.
"Ah, just 'cause yer not gettin' any," Yuri commented.
"Neither are you, ruffian!" Disgusted, Keith hurried to catch up to Zhuzhen and Alice.
That night they camped out along the road. Although it was late March, spring was yet a week away and the nighttime temperatures still dropped precipitously. Yuri gave over the tent and bedrolls to Zhuzhen and Alice and joined Keith in the watch. But as the night progressed, he took to his blanket as well, snuggling down beside Alice in the already cramped tent.
Zhuzhen awoke shortly after dawn. Keith had kept the small cook fire banked and had heated water for their morning drink. Zhuzhen, rubbing sleep from his ancient eyes crawled out of the tent, stretched and sniffed the chilly air. Pulling back the tent flap, he called inside:
"Alice, time to rise."
Alice felt the cold of the morning air and snuggled closer to the warm body next to her. The radiant heat mixed with the worn leather smell told her it was Yuri, and she smiled slightly until she realized that he was closer than usual. She tried to push herself up and could not. What? She pushed down the blanket and found Yuri had pulled her into his arms sometime in the night, mixing their two blankets together in a heap. Additionally, he had pinned her down, and his hands were –
"Yuri!" Alice said, pushing against the sleeping fusionist. "Yuri!"
Yuri mumbled, pulling her closer into his arms, one hand placed warmly under her short dress.
"Yuri!!! Wake up!!!" Alice shouted into Yuri's ear.
Yuri opened bleary eyes and looked at the beautiful bundle in his arms.
"Hiya," he muttered.
"Get your hands off of me!" Alice shouted, pushing against his chest.
"My hands--?" Yuri mumbled, letting go of Alice and realizing one of his hands had been where it most definitely did not belong!
"Ooops, sorry," he mumbled, moving back and hitting the tent, which promptly collapsed. "Oh for chrisake!" he cursed and kicked out of blankets and tent. "Damn stupid tent!"
Alice had also extricated herself from the collapsed tent and pulled her clothes into some kind of order. Without a backward glance, she strode over to the fire. All throughout breakfast, Alice utterly ignored Yuri, while she did offer her usual buoyant spirits to Keith and Zhuzhen. Moreover, when breakfast was finished she left Yuri to pack up the bedrolls and tent, simply heading out with Zhuzhen.
Alice continued to refuse to speak to Yuri as they made their way along the road. Yuri, for his part, could not see anything wrong with what had happened. But Alice's back was as straight as a board, and Yuri could feel each bone jar with the strength of her strides. Finally he spoke.
"Alice," he said to her back. "Alice, I'm sorry. I didn't mean --"
Alice did not respond, ignoring her protector's protests. Finally, she stopped and turned to him.
"Yuri, your actions – I trusted you!"
"I was asleep. I told ya'! Besides, I didn't hurt you," he said with an ingenuous smile.
Alice shook her head. "And that excuses you?"
Yuri sighed. "Alice, I did not mean to put my hands inside your dress. If I was meanin' to, I would' a put them in a more strategic place! For chrisake! I am a man. I get hungry! I get thirsty!"
Alice blinked, looking puzzled. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
Yuri thought for a moment then shrugged. He took a step closer, pulled her into his arms and kissed her. A second later his face was stinging with the slap Alice gave him. He did not move when she pulled away and stormed off, but instead mused silently, an idiotic grin slowly forming on his lips.
'Oh yeah, feisty!' he thought.
Late November, at Ypres in Belgium, a snowstorm had swept across northern Europe and brought a halt to hostilities as both sides of the conflict waited out the weather. The combat during the battle had been confusing and unrelenting. Survivors of the British forces were heard to say that a man was not a soldier if he had not survived the battlefield at Ypres. Less than half of 160,000 men sent to France would come out of the encounter unscathed. Onto this carnage at Ypres Salient came the snow, bringing a much-needed respite.
The next week passed slowly for Yuri as the snowstorm blew across the mountains. In that time he finished dressing the buck, cooking the venison and, with handsfull of snow, cleaned off the bloody floor. He had used the small knife to sever the buck's four points, scraping them smooth and putting on a sharper point. He then took strips of the deer hide and, scraping them clean, used them to wrap the horn points and create makeshift fighting claws. By then the small knife, never very sharp to begin with, was extremely dull. With a shrug, he put it aside and tried out the new claws.
He pushed aside the dusty debris of the main room and sparred against invisible monsters, his motions at first jerky with weakness then, as he warmed up to the exercise, becoming more fluid. He continued until fatigue threatened to overwhelm him and he wrapped up in the blanket again, sucking on some of the cooked venison. As he chewed, he thought back to his years in China. He could remember with details all that happened between him and Alice, even the crap that Zhuzhen was always pulling on him. He remembered being swallowed alive by the Seraphic Radiance, the most powerful and nastiest of all fusion monsters. He even remembered trekking across Europe to fight Albert Simon in Wales. But why the hell was he here, wherever here was? And where was Alice? And Zhuzhen? And that bomb-crazy spy, Margarete? As he hunkered down for a nap, Yuri focused on trying to remember where he was and what had happened to separate them.
While they were waiting for Margarete's return from Rouen and Halley's from London, the three companions, Zhuzhen, Alice and Yuri wandered around the Nemeton ruins. Old Roger was busy tinkering in his laboratory, trying to fix the teleport device, which left them with time on their hands. Zhuzhen had led the trio up to the ruins, his steady pace easy enough to keep up with, his hands clasped behind his back. Alice followed close behind the ancient Adept and Yuri brought up the rear. Finally Zhuzhen muttered something and ran off, heading up the path toward the old gravestone, leaving Alice and Yuri alone with their thoughts.
"Looks like it's just us," Alice said quietly.
"Yeah." They walked up the path and took shelter in an alcove of the old Nemeton Monastery, out of sight of Zhuzhen but not so far as to be unaware of any trouble.
Alice stood in the open alcove, her hands clasped at her waist, watching as Yuri paced the empty ruin.
"We've come a long way, haven't we Yuri? Do you regret it? Coming this far?"
"Regret? No way!" the young Harmonixer exclaimed, turning to face Alice. "I've gained too much to regret it, Alice. You know, until I met you, I was living the life of a loser. That damned voice was the only thing giving me purpose, and I hated it. But you, you came and that all changed!" Yuri walked across the sandy floor and stood in front of Alice, and looked down into her deep blue eyes. "You coming into my life awoke my powers; the fusion that I thought was so terrible, allows me to protect you. You gave me direction. I have confidence; I know I'm needed and have the power and control now to do whatever it takes." He snorted, turning back again toward the ruins. "Sometimes, I even think I'm happy. Stupid, huh?"
Alice shook her head. "No ..."
"I've wanted to tell you this Alice, since that day you came into my Graveyard and pulled my stupid ass out of there," he paused turning toward her. "You may not understand ~ hell I don't understand sometimes! But, this battle; I don't know how it will turn out, but, the day you die, I'll die too."
Alice stood silent, shock written plainly on her face. "Yuri, no!"
Yuri kicked the sand with his booted foot and turned away, hiding a little of his embarrassment. "I wasn't able to before. When I was a kid. I could not protect mom from the monsters that Dehuai sent. Instead, my mother gave her life to protect me. That is when my power came alive. The blood of my father ignited in me, tearing me with emotions that I could not control. And afterward I felt such desolation when I realized I had failed my promise to my father. I do not want to ever feel that way again, so ..."
Alice remained silent, her piercing gaze riveted to the back of her protector. She remembered the stolen kiss he gave her on the road to Prague and smiled. Yuri turned back toward her.
"You're laughing!" he said with embarrassment.
"No, no, I was just remembering," she said with knowing eyes holding him in place.
Yuri, trying to hide a blush, put his hand behind his neck, and rubbed it. "Hehe, stop that! It's nothin' really! I just kinda, well, you know ... like you, that's all."
"Yuri, I, -- I ..."
Zhuzhen's timing had always been bad. His untimely return to the ruins prevented Alice from finishing her sentence, and sent Yuri running from the ruins, fuming.
Yuri turned over in his sleep, restless dreams flitting across his inner eyes. The fire had gone down to mere coals and he shivered, pulling the scrap of blanket closer.
"Alice," he muttered.
Albert Simon was dead. God was dead. Yuri awoke in Roger Bacon's basement, his eyes instantly searching out Alice. She was there, lying next to the vending machine on the next floor up. Stretching taut muscles, Yuri yawned and, climbing over Halley and Keith, climbed upstairs. He knelt beside the sleeping Alice, watching as her breathing slowly rose and fell. Something had happened in the Float and she had been ill, but she appeared to be resting well. He placed an ungloved hand on her forehead; it was warm but not feverish.
'Maybe just a little chill before?' he thought and stood up. 'I'll make tea. She'll like that when she wakes up.' He scanned the darkened area and shrugged. 'So where's the damned kitchen!' With a scowl he moved away.
Alice awoke some while later to the clatter of crockery. She looked up and saw Yuri putting a tea pot and cups onto the table, having brushed aside the books, charts and other papers Roger had left on the surface.
"Yuri, what?" Alice asked softly.
"Oh, you are awake? I made tea," Yuri said with an ingratiating smile.
Alice looked at the mess Yuri had made and sighed. 'I just can't get angry when he tries. But he is so messy!' she thought as she joined Yuri at the table.
They sat and drank a cup of tea in silence as the others were still sleeping, but when finished Yuri asked Alice to step outside.
"Just for a minute. There's something I wanna say." Alice nodded her assent and they climbed the stairs and stepped outside onto the balcony. It was pre-dawn, with a brisk breeze washing in from the ocean. When Alice shivered Yuri took his coat and draped its heavy weight onto her shoulders. They stood in silence then, watching the pale wash of pink inch its way into the sky in the east. Finally Yuri sighed and turned to Alice.
"I know we've been through a lot, Alice. An' I don't know ~ well ..." he sighed, shaking his head.
'Damn! I just don't know how ~!'
He fished in a pocket of his leather trousers, pulling out a small ring, the pearl ring he'd received in Rouen. He stared at it a moment, then reached across and took Alice's hand.
"Alice, will ya marry me?" He asked, placing the ring in her hand.
Alice looked at the little ring, trying to keep from laughing at Yuri's idea of a proposal. But ~ that was Yuri.
"Yes," she said softly, smiling.
Yuri remained still, the quiet acceptance of his proposal not quite registering in his mind. Then suddenly he reached down and pulled her into his arms, his coat falling to the ground.
"Yes!" he said. "Yes!!" he shouted. "Yes!!!"
From inside Roger's house voices were heard and Halley soon opened the door.
"What's all the shouting?" he asked, eyeing the embracing couple.
"Shut up, short shit!" Yuri growled and, grabbing the door handle, slammed it shut. "We're having a moment."
Margarete lost her footing and plunged face first into the snowdrift. She lay for a moment, silently cursing a certain young Harmonixer, then rolled over, panting with exertion. She had fought the snow for a week now, dropping down into valleys and climbing back up mountains, always heading north-west. She had bypassed Mulheim, heading instead for Strasbourg, hoping against fate that Yuri was somewhere along the line. So far there was no sign of him. As she lay on the snow she closed her eyes for a moment, letting the snow gather in her eyelashes and caress her cheeks. How she wished the feather soft touch was Yuri's hand.
Margarete had taken another look at Yuri while they stood in the sewers of Fengtian.
'Man oh man oh ... Whew! I would love a handful of this guy!' she thought, then shook her head. 'Get with it Maggie!'
And all through their travels, even when they had lost Yuri to that monster summoned from whatever pit in hell Dehuai was now gracing, Margarete could not get Yuri out of her mind. Sure, she knew that Alice had her eye on the young fusionist, and she knew also that Yuri had the proverbial hots for Alice. Still, Margarete was a mature woman with mature tastes; even if they did run to handsome young men!
And that day in Rouen, when she had caught up to them at the back of the church ~ there he was, in all his handsome, recklessness. Yuri! Alive and well and looking good enough to eat! Oh she had bit her tongue that day for sure.
Nearly a month later they returned to Rouen and Margarete had pulled Yuri into the confessional, finally telling him things he needed to know; things he should know.
"Hey kiddo ... I mean, Father. Listen, I've got a confession. The world is in a lot of trouble right now, and not just with Albert but with those countries called the Powers. They are pouring massive sums of money into building up military might. War is coming very, very soon. Because of this, at first, I thought I would just use Yuri and the others. I thought I could use their remarkable powers to benefit my own nation. Just like the Japanese army was trying to do. But the more I watched that crazy, reckless Yuri the more I felt that was wrong.
"Yuri isn't thinking about power struggles; he's not thinking of a national interest, or of politics or money. He just sees that girl, Alice, and all the enemies lined up against her and so he protects her. And you know I'm a bit jealous. Yes, me. I realized that the important things in life aren't about profit and gain. And I started thinking about searching out my own important things. With Yuri. Ya' see I really like the kiddo. Have from the first and so I wanted to ... but well, never mind. I guess you understand now."
With a shake, she sat up.
"Damn woman, knock it off!" She stood up and, brushing snow from her backside checked her surroundings. "I've got to get in for the night. And I need a warm memory to tide me over. Damn it Yuri! Where the hell did you go?" The thought, the words, were a constant reminder that she had not arrived at Zurich in time. Yuri, imprisoned during wartime, was headed for Aarau. However, the cart had turned over; Yuri broke free, and from all evidence, was fused and possibly insane. Moreover, Margarete kicked herself for it. "If I'd only been in time," she breathed and began to climb the drift.
It was well past nightfall when Margarete finally gave up. She had covered more than half the distance to Strasbourg with no sign of Yuri. Furthermore, there had been evidence of German troop movement and Margarete's first priority was to her duty. With a sigh she sat beneath an evergreen; it had low hanging boughs and a scattering of needles beneath so that, gathering them up, Margarete could use them as a cushion between her and the cold hard ground. She then drank a little water and ate some hardtack and contemplated her next move.
'I can be in Strasbourg by late tomorrow. I need to be there,' she thought. With a sigh she curled up for sleep.
The next morning found Margarete climbing the pass above Strasbourg. Below, the valley was smoky and overcast and Margarete sighed deeply, knowing yet regretting her next decision.
"Oh Yuri, where are you?" she asked with a sigh. Looking north she scanned the horizon. "I cannot spend the time to look for you anymore. There's a war on and I must do my part. Please stay safe. Please be well. I will look for you after the war. Please God I will find you after the war."
With that, Margarete began her descent.
"Alice?" Yuri awoke, hearing sounds outside. He rose and grabbed his antler claws and the rusty pitchfork and went to the door. Looking outside he had to blink. In the grey twilight, with the ground still covered in snow, he had to squint to make out the small movements outside that said something was there. He opened the door with a snarl. Outside were enemies! Revenants! He bounded into the snow, his claws to the ready, and the pitchfork in one hand.
"All right you bastards!" he shouted. "Let's play!"
There were ten of the zombies moving in the snowy meadow and Yuri picked the nearest two, quickly dispatching one with the rusted pitchfork. The second one swung at him with crooked limbs but Yuri ducked, coming in underneath and skewering it at the crotch. The zombie collapsed.
The other zombies, noticing the fight, began to approach, their movements jerky but dangerous. Yuri shook his head, fighting the little voice that began whispering in his mind. The voice that urged him to change. Instead he leapt at the next pair of revenants, swiping at one, then reaching for and pulling its arm from its socket, and then plunging his antler claw deep into its chest. Its dying breath was full of black flies and reeked of carrion. Yuri simply took the corpse in hand and used it to batter the second creature, allowing him to get close enough to slice the revenant's throat with his claws. A spout of ichor burst from the severed throat and Yuri, grinning evilly, shoved hard sending both bodies into the snow at his feet.
"Ah c'mon!" he panted. "Is this a fight? Or a Sunday Social?"
The remaining revenants split up, three coming at his right and three to his left. One began making gestures that Yuri did not recognize but soon he could see the glow at the creature's fingertips.
"Ha! Magic! What a load of crap!" The voice in his head became insistent and he shrugged. "Why not? Just for you, assholes!"
Yuri wore a grin as he reached into himself, grasping the fusion soul. In a rush of magic and darkness he felt his limbs melt and merge, his body changing, his perceptions altering as his soul and the fusion melded. A shroud of black mist momentarily covered him and then he stood revealed. Yuri Hyuga and Death Emperor had become one.
Death Emperor raised his large bat-like wings and flew quickly to the left, landing before three of the zombies. He drew a deep breath, also drawing his wings close in, and then opened them, expelling the deadly breath as a Dark Messenger. Moments later the three zombies crumpled to the ground, quivering, their bodies desiccating, their souls gone. Death Emperor did not wait to enjoy his victory, instead turning to face the last remaining combatants. These decided to flee. But Death Emperor was not a forgiving fusion. He jumped nimbly at the slowest creature, raking his claws first one way then the other, slicing the zombie into ribbons. It collapsed, its blood speckling the white snow. One other turned to wave its hands at the fusion, gesturing wildly, but this one too met a quick end, leaving the last one fleeing the snowy meadow. Death Emperor spread his wings and launched himself for a short flight, intercepting the fleeing revenant. The creature tried to change directions but Death Emperor was ready, reaching out a long, muscular arm and snagging the zombie by the neck, lifting it up, and then snapping its neck. With a shrug, he threw the corpse into the snow and surveyed the carnage.
It was almost an afterthought for Yuri to release the fusion, his feet pounding across the littered snow to the cabin.
"Alice?" he called. "Alice!"
Yuri ran to the cabin, flinging open the sagging door.
"Alice!" he yelled. "Damn! There must have been more of them. They've got Alice!" He grabbed a handful of the dried meat and the blanket and ran from the cabin and through the meadow, finally plunging into the forest. Behind him, as Yuri passed beyond the meadow, he did not notice the German soldiers who lay dead and dying by his hands.
Margarete arrived in Strasbourg after dark. Tired, cold and hungry, she did stop for a quick meal and a bath. She did not look at Yuri's satchel. She did not think about its contents. But beneath the Book of Flesh lie Yuri's talisman. It was still glowing; deep, pulsing, blood-red and small striations had appeared on its surface, when suddenly it cracked.
A/N Tanks to everyone who read and reviewed.
Aegis: The masks, huh? Well, they were Yuri's personal problem that he failed to fix, extensions of his personality. Alice bought Yuri time with her taking on his karma, but I doubt it was a permanent deal. At least, not in my mind.
Greyfriars: Koudelka quotes are taken from the American version of the game. Dunno what the European/Asian versions sounded like. They just seemed appropriate for what was happening. Albeit I wasn't expecting as many chapters as I've ended up with!
Celine: Thanks and camp away!