Authors' notes: This will probably contain spoilers for Suikoden 1, 2 and 3. So please play the games first if you don't want spoilers. And the flame champion's name will be Hikaru.

Request: Beta reader please…If anyone is interested please e-mail me. I know this is a bit selfish, but I don't want to do this alone. As some of you can tell my grammar isn't good and neither is my story structure, despite I'm a native English speaker. I'm more of a script writer, and I wish this story to look like a novel style. Thank-you.

A leaders burden

Borus scrambled to his feet, running towards the area where Chris and the others disappeared. "Chris!!" He constantly called out, and as a desperate attempt to save her, he began digging through the rocks. Bit by bit he moved the rocks and continued to call out for her. His voice echoed, yet there was no response. Tears began to stream down Borus' face.

"Chris…" he whispered. He knees dropped to the floor and he kneeled over crying. Out of frustration, he began to punch the ground. "Damn. How could we be so careless."

Louis placed a hand softly on Borus' shoulder. "She's alive. I just know it. We should look for her."

Borus nodded slowly as he got up to his feet.

Leo shook his head. "What should we do now?"

Percival looked towards Budehec castle. "We should go to Budehec castle and ask for assistance."

"Alright." Louis nodded. "I'll stay with Borus in the mean time and we'll remain here. We need to protect this place until Lady Chris returns."

"I'll stay here as well." Roland said folding his arms.

They all nodded and Leo and Percival went towards Budehec castle.

Deep within the cavern, Geddoe woke up to water dripping. He opened his eye to see that he was inside a cave. He looked around the area and found Hugo and Fubar lying down. Queen was also close by as well. She moaned as she pushed herself to sit up.

"What? Where are we?" Queen asked weakly. She looked around and the cave looked like an ancient ruin.

Hugo and Fubar began to wake up as well. "Oww, my head." Hugo said holding his forehead. When he saw Geddoe and Queen he jolted into a fighting position. "You guys? Where's Tir?"

Queen shook her head. "We just woke up."

Geddoe frowned as he felt the walls. "This is a Sindar ruin."

"Sindar?" Hugo said titling his head.

"Yeah. Come on lets find a way out here." Geddoe said walking towards the tunnel.

"Why don't you put that knife away." Queen smiled. "We'll fight some other time. We need to get out of here first."

Hugo looked at them and placed the knife back. His eyes gazed upon Fubar and they both nodded.

"Hugo," Geddoe called as he brought a large piece of wood.. "Could you light this."

"Sure." Hugo nodded. He used a small fire spell to light the torch.

"Alright, lets move on." Geddoe said going on.

Chris moaned from the pain of the fall. She was still half asleep. She began to remember her father. How he was never home. When ever he as home she'd jump for joy and showed him how good she was getting at swordsmanship. He'd smile and pet his daughter's head. Then she remembered when she found who her father really was. Chris was feeling a bit guilty for not getting to know him more. Then she might of known who he was when she saw him last. Then she saw an image of Yun. Yun smiled kindly at her like she always did. "You should trust him." Yun smiled. Chris was confused. Trust who. When she tried to reach Yun, she was awaken by a sharp pain.

"Ouch!" Chris woke up from the pain of her sore ankle.

"Hold still." Said a kind voice.

Chris pushed herself up with her elbows and saw Tir Mcdohl was warping a bandage around her foot. Chris blushed when she noticed that he took off some of her armor off. "What are you doing?" She snarled. She tried to grab her sword, but all she felt was the right side of her thigh. "What? Where's my sword?"

Mcdohl flicked his head towards the direction where he put her sword. It was standing against the wall of the cave.

"Why you!" Chris growled. "Don't touch me."

Mcdohl pinned her down. "If you move your ankle it'll only get worse."

"I can use my water rune to heal me."

"So you're a True rune user too huh."

"That is correct."

"Well you can try your water rune, but I would save your energy. Who knows when you might need to use your rune."

Chris frowned at him. "Well I can't stay here while my men worry themselves sick about me. I need to use it now." Chris used the water rune, a bluish glow came from her hand and her sore ankle was gone.

"Well, I guess you don't need any medications. Still we have to find a way out of here." Tir said starching his cheek "We fell pretty deep in to the cave. I think we're below the sea level. For now lets work together."

"I see your point. Just don't become too friendly with me."

"I beg your pardon."

"You stole the rune, so don't think I'll let you go."

"I have no intentions of fighting you, however I don't intend to lose the rune either." Tir shook his head. "To be honest, I was thinking of leaving you here, but you're Hugo's friend. He'll never forgive me if I left you. Since I wasn't sure if there were any monsters around, I brought you here and started a fire. This area seems safe enough to stay in."

Chris looked at the burning fire that was in front her. "I see."

"Here." Tir went burrowing in his bag and found some healing herbs. "This will help get your strength back."

"Thank-you."

Tir looked around the cave. "I looks like some other rocks have fallen to make another ceiling. I'm going to see if there any editable animals here. There's some water next to you if you're thirsty." Tir then looked at Chris' sword and then back at Chris. He took the sword and tossed it to her. "You better take this for protection, incase a wild animal comes here. Would you mind staying here, I don't have anymore fire scrolls, so it would good idea to keep that fire going."

"Uh yes. I guess you're right."

Chris said nothing and continued to look at the fire as Tir left the cave. "Everyone, must be worried about me." she sighed.

Meanwhile, Ace and the others began to wake up from the fall. Joker shook his head and look around the area. He brushed off the little pebbles on his clothing, wiping himself clean.

"Is everyone okay?"

Aila was on top of Jacques who was still holding her in his arms. "Jacques are you okay?"

"I'm fine. How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright thanks to you." Aila helped Jacques up and then she looked around. "Ace!"

Ace was lying on the ground with a painful expression. He wasn't moving.

"Ace wake up!" Aila called out. She shook him, but when he didn't respond she slapped him across the face. "Wake up!" She continued to slap.

"Ouch! It wasn't me." He yelped in a cry. Ace opened his eyes to see Alia with her hands on his shoulder and with a worried look. "Oh its just you guys."

Aila pouted. "I was worried you were dead."

"I'm fine Aila. Sorry to worry you." Ace said while starching the back of his head. "Where are we?"

Joker shook his head. "I don't know. Looks like an ancient ruin."

"A ruin?" Ace rubbed his sore head and looked around the room. He then noticed Geddoe and Queen weren't there. "Hey, where's boss?"

"We probably fell in different places." Jacques said while looking at the covered hole above. "We have to get out of here. If we stay, we might suffocate."

"Well, I guess we're on our own for now." Ace shrugged. "The others couldn't have fallen that much farther from us."

They all nodded in unison and began their search for a way out of the cavern, and for the others.

While the 4 heroes were stuck in the caves, Percival and Leo were riding their mighty steeds to Budehec castle. Thomas the owner of the castle was busying himself with the many paper works of the new stores. Property taxes, health insurance, water bills, food bills, the paper work was almost none stop. Thomas couldn't be happier. Even though running the castle was hard work, he still had time to walk around the castle and chat with his friends. It filled his heart since he knew that everyone was doing their best to keeping the castle busy as well.

"Thomas." called a young girl's voice. Cecil walked into the room with Percival and Leo. "This is terrible." She pouted.

Thomas put his pen down on the desk and had a worried expression. "What's wrong?"

"Its Chris." Percival walked towards Thomas with a hard look. "We need some of your men to help us look for her on the western shore."

"Western shore?" Thomas gasped. "Did she fall?"

"Yes. While we were chasing the rune thieves, Lady Chris and Lord Geddoe were both caught when the floor collapsed and they disappeared."

"Geddoe was there too? Who were the thieves."

"Lord Hugo, and Lord Mcdohl."

"Hugo? Why would he…" Thomas' face suddenly turned into a shock. "Tir Mcdohl of the Liberation army from the Gate Wars? I read about him from Eike's library."

"We don't know Lord Mcdohl's intentions for the rune, though we do need the rune back."

"I see."

"Please Lord Thomas we need your help."

"Alright. Cecil you know what to do."

Cecil nodded at Thomas and left the room to rally up the men of Budehuc castle.

"Thank-you Lord Thomas." Percival and Leo bowed.

"Think nothing of it. It's the least we can do." Thomas smiled.

"Well then, if you would excuse us then." Leo nodded and then left the room with Percival behind.

Thomas sighed deeply and looked at the window. "I hope everyone is okay."

***

Geddoe walked around the cave and felt like they were going circles. They couldn't figure out where they were. Geddoe frowned as the torch began to slowly wear down to a nub. He shock his head and looked back at everyone.

"We should rest here for now."

"Is it safe?" Hugo asked.

"There's really no where else we can go." Queen pointed out.

"I'm a bit hungry." Hugo said shyly while holding his stomach.

"Same here." Queen smiled.

Geddoe shrugged and continued walking a bit further. "We can use some of the monsters here as meat for now."

"Okay, how about me and Fubar and go hunt for dinner and bring some fire wood."

"Sounds good to me." Queen flicked her hair and then looked at the ground. "We'll make camp for now. Be careful though."

"I know." Hugo nodded. Hugo left the two adults, while he and Fubar got dinner. Hugo then felt a small pain in his heart. He couldn't stop but wonder if Tir was alright. Even though Tir wouldn't open up to him, he was still a friend. Hugo sighed and could only hope that Tir was alright.

When Hugo was out of sight, Queen let out a worried sigh. "He's not a bad kid."

"He's similar to Hikaru." Geddoe folded his arms and sat on the floor.

"Are we really going to arrest them after this?"

"Its too late. I accepted Sasarai's money already. So we'll have to do what we were assigned to do."

"I know. So we're going to use Hugo as bait to lure Lord Mcdohl out."

"That's the plan for now."

Ace, Joker, Aila and Jacques soon became tired after walking and randomly battling monsters. They called out for each other but there was never a response. Just a monster lurking from the corner eager to get some fresh meat. Finally they began to collapse.

"This is endless." Ace panted. "My feet are aching too."

"Well we can't stay out in the open for the monsters to get us." Joker pointed out.

"We should make camp for now." Jacques proposed. "Lets find an isolated area where the monsters won't look for us. We can begin our search for Geddoe after we rest."

"Good idea Jacques." Ace grinned. "I guess a bit of me is rubbing off on you."

Aila gasped. "What? I hope not."

Joker laughed and Jacques blushed while Ace turned red.

"I guess you like him the way he is. Lets go then." Ace said happily.

They went on and found a large area where there were no monsters in sight. They took the opportunity and made camp there. Like before, Aila and Jacques went to search for food while Joker and Ace began making a fire.

Meanwhile, Chris was resting. She was tired and now she was hungry from. It seemed like a long time since she last ate, how long have they been down in the cave anyway? She thought about how Tir tried to treated her ankle, and how he was kind to her even when he didn't have to. Although, men treating her nicely wasn't a rare occasion. However, the look in Tir's eyes were of true kindness. Yet, his eyes are full of sadness of well. Loneliness perhaps. He seemed to have a great burden on his shoulder. Perhaps like her.

Chris closed her eyes and let her mind drift. "Everyone is probably worried about me. I hope they're doing okay." She thought about Tir once more and laughed. "Rescued by a man. How embarrassing. This is stupid of me."

Thump.

Chris opened her eyes and pushed herself into a fighting position holding her sword in front of her.

Thump, thump, thump.

The noise began to come closer. Chris tightened her grip around the sword and made her way to a corner near the opening. The noise was coming closer, she waited in her hiding spot until she had a full view of the creature.

THUMP. A dark head peeped out of the corner.

Chris gritted her teeth, ready to fight.

The monster saw Chris and showed its full body to her. It was a large primal monster. Its fists were half the size of Chris. Its saber tooth teeth stuck out and the monster's eyes glowed bright yellow in the dark. The monster roared and swung its fist at Chris. Chris used her sword to take some of the blow. She jumped to avoid its other fist, and jumped again to avoid the next attack. The monster looked hungrily at her. She glared at him and held out sword once more. The monster grinned and then raised its fist to pound her. Chris swung her sword back to accelerate more power to hit the monster, using her Phoenix rune, she stabbed the monster multiple times. The monster didn't die, but became angry, Chris in the meantime became unbalanced and was panting. She wasn't able to attack again right away. This was one of the flaws of the Phoenix rune. The monster was about to hit her when someone spoke the words. "Soul eater! Deadly fingertips!" A black shadow circled around the monster and began to eat away the monster in a matter of seconds. The monster screamed in terror that echoed through out the cave. The scream died and the monster disappeared.

Chris couldn't say anything. She never seen a rune that could instantly kill a monster like that before.

Tir slowly turned around. "Are you alright?"

"I-I think so…" Chris rubbed her forehead and then shook her head.

Tir looked at her left hand. "That rune, it's looks similar to the falcon rune."

"Falcon rune? I never heard of it."

"I see. I'll get the animals I caught." Tir went back to get the animals while Chris went back to the fire place. When he got back, Tir brought out some strange looking animals. Chris' eyes widen when she saw the animals they were suppose to eat. "I'm pretty sure that this is editable. I checked to see if there was any harmful fluids in them. We should wait for it to cook." Tir used a stick and stuck it up the animal's rear until a piece of the stick stuck out of the animal's mouth.

Chris' mouth dropped open, and she quickly closed it with her hand. She thought she was going to be sick.

Tir titled his head and looked at her strangely. "Are you alright?"

"How-How can you do that. And eating such a strange animal."

Tir shook his head. "It was the only one I could find. If you don't want to eat it that's fine, but you need your strength for tomorrow right?"

Chris was silent for a bit, and grabbed a stick with a disgusted look and stabbed it in the rear like Tir did and let it cook in the fire. Chris shyly looked at Tir, who was looking at the entrance to the cave. He was probably waiting for another monster to come out. Chris noticed that, like Geddoe, Tir's facial expression hasn't changed since she saw him.

"Uhm Lord Mcdohl."

"Hmm?" Tir turned his towards her. "Something wrong?"

"Uh no." Chris shook her head. "Its just that…your face always looks so sad. Why is that?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm sorry, its probably none of my business."

"Hugo asked me the same thing."

"Hugo?"

"Its probably the way I look that everyone wonders."

"No, I was just curious that's all. Is it because of your rune?"

"Soul eater?" Tir said looking at his right hand. "A bit, but I have grown attached to it. Besides, I have a responsibility to bear since I have this. That's why I can't get close to anyone."

"Close to anyone."

"There was a girl from the Republic of Toran. She had a crush on me, but I didn't pay much attention to her. There was so many things on my mind back then." Tir brushed his hair away from his eyes and then held his right hand in front of him. "I couldn't let my rune devour her soul, or anyone else that was dear to me. So I left Toran. My servant Gremio accompanied me during my travels. But he eventually died and his soul was taken in by the rune. There are many souls in here. That's why I can't get too close to anyone. Hugo has been nice enough to accompany me here, but soon I have to say goodbye to him too."

"Lord Mcdohl…"

"You don't need to feel sorry for me. The last rune bearer survived 300 years of loneliness." Tir turned his gaze up Chris' beautiful blue eyes. " I envy you."

"Why?"

"Even though you bear a true rune, you have more freedom then I do. That's why you have so many people looking up to you. You can have your close ones by you."

"You can do that too."

Tir shook his head. "If I did Soul eater would eat their souls once they died. Soul eater's powers grow depending on how close the person is to the bearer. The closer the person is to the bearer, the stronger it becomes." Tir looked at Chris who still had a face of pity on her. He attention was then by the well-cooked animal he left on the stick. "The meat is done."

"Oh yes." Chris looked at the strange animal and wasn't sure if she should eat it. She looked at Tir and waited to see if he chocked on the food.

Tir gulped the food down and looked at Chris again. "Its fine. You should go ahead and eat." Tir smiled.

This caught Chris off guard since she never saw him smile before, he was so much like Geddoe, she was sure he would never smile at her.

"What?"

"You smiled."

"So?"

"I didn't think I'd ever see you smile that's all."

Tir chuckled. "I see. I try to stay positive despite my situation." Chris was still looking at him strangely "Are you worried about the food. Its not too bad. Sort of tastes like chicken." Tir grinned.

"Really?" Chris took a tiny bite and then gagged. Tir burst out laughing. "That was a mean trick." she snarled.

"Well, its not so bad, except for the after taste. You should really eat it though. Otherwise, you'll be a lot more hungry in the morning."

Chris frowned and relentlessly took the animal and started to bite it again. She cringed at the bitter taste, but lived with it. After they ate, Chris decided to question Tir about the Wind rune.

"Lord Mcdohl?"

"You can call me Tir."

"Tir. Sorry."

"We didn't really introduce ourselves, but I know who you are. You are Chris Lightfellow. Hugo told me about you."

"I see."

"What did want to talk about?"

"Why did you steal the Wind rune. You don't seem to be a bad guy."

Tir giggled. "Is that how you see all your enemies."

Chris blushed. "No. Its just that the last one who tried to steal all the runes was…"

"He wasn't a bad guy either. He wanted people to be free from their destiny. No one should bear these runes." Tir said looking at his right hand.

"So why do you want the Wind rune?"

"It's a secret." Tir smiled.

"A secret?"

"Yup. A secret. So I can't tell you."

"I see."

"Get some rest. I'll keep watch."

"What? You're staying up all night."

"We have no choice. If another monster comes back, I can take care of it." Tir's facial expression turned back to its serious hard look. He turned away from her so she couldn't see his eyes.

"But…"

"Don't worry. I'll protect you for now. Once I spot someone from your team, we'll go our separate ways. Now please, sleep."

"I don't need any protection from anyone!" Chris snarled.

Tir looked back at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense."

"I'm a Zexen knight, so I can take care of myself."

"I know. We can still help each other for now can we not?"

"Yes, I'll take the second watch then if you're taking the first."

"I'll wake you up when I'm tired then."

Chris sighed and laid her head on to the ground. She closed her and whispered "I want to see your smile again."

***

The morning sun had risen and the next day had already started. Louis, Borus and Roland stayed around the area all night, determined to protect Chris from further danger. Louis knew in his heart that she couldn't be dead. She wouldn't die that easily. Especially from a simple fall. She had to be alive. Soon they saw small torches coming closer. Percival and Leo had returned with men from Budehuc castle. Cecil was in front and she ran towards the area where the knights were.

"Lord Borus, Lord Roland!" Cecil yelled and huffed. "We came as soon as we could."

Leo waved his arm in the direction. "Alright men, start digging."

The men got out their shoves and spears to dig through the broken rocks.

"Do you think we'll find them." Cecil asked Leo.

"We should be able to dig deep enough to find the hole they fell through. Until then, we can only use this."

"Perhaps I can be of help." Said a soft familiar voice.

Everyone turned around to see Sasarai. The holy Bishop of Harmonia.

"Lord Sasarai! What are you doing here?" Cecil said with her mouth open.

"Our men are down there too. As well as the True Wind Rune. So we should do this quickly. Please stand aside." Everyone stepped back as Sasarai began to chant. "Earthquake." he said softly. The ground began to shake and collapsed underneath again.

Everyone underneath felt it. Chris woke up from the shake while Tir jumped to his feet and looked up. Geddoe, Queen, Hugo and Fubar woke up from the noise as well. They all looked at the shaking ceiling. Jacques covered Aila and Aila hugged Jacques back. Joker and Ace merely look up at the ceiling.

After the giant hole appeared, the ground stopped shaking. The dust began to clear up to reveal the ruin below them and the separate holes that Chris and the others could of gone through.

Sasarai smiled softly. "This is getting interesting."

The ceiling began to collapse where Geddoe and Hugo was. They ran out of the tunnel as quickly as they could. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they arrived at the ancient ruin. There were pillars, a large building in the center and a maze as a path to get through. Ace and the others also ended up in the same place. They ran out of the crumbing cave and ended up in the ruin. Tir grabbed Chris and dodged the cave in when the ceiling collapsed. The dust cleared up to reveal the ruin.

"Are you okay?" Tir asked Chris.

"Yes. What happened?"

Tir shook his head. "Don't know. Looks like we can't go anywhere but forward."

"Yes, lets hope there is an exit."

"Looks like we have to go through this Sindar ruin."

"Sindar? How can you tell?"

"I read about them in the Library in the Republic of Toran." Tir let out a laugh as he remembered the librarian was also named Hugo.

"So we should move forward right."

"Yeah. We might find your friends and Hugo." Tir ran towards the ruin with Chris following him.

***

While the chase continued, Hikusaak was chanting in the Bishop hall. The entire hall was white with a blue center and a rune symbol on the carpet. The place was usually used for meetings. Hikusaak was beginning to wonder where the other Bishops were, when he heard the foot steps of 2 people.

Hikusaak smirked. "You're late." He said as he turned around. "I knew you had gret powers, but I never expected your plan to go this well.

"We've come for your rune."

"Is that so? You know what this means. The largest war is beginning." Hikusaak laughed. "But now is not the time. Guards!" A long silence passed when no one came. "What? What did you two do."

"We left them for our partner." One of the men smiled.

"She should using her special technique."

"Damn you! Circle rune!"

A bright light started to shimmer, but the light quickly faded.

"Sovereign Rune." Said one of the men.

"The Sovereign, how…" Hikusaak gasped at the sight of the rune.

"We've collected 19 of the 27 true runes. We just need yours to make it 20."

"You can't…"

The Circle rune began to tear through his body as it was leaving him. He collapsed to floor from the pain of the rune leaving him. He looked up at the 2 men that took the rune. "How…" he said weakly. "I've spent my life trying to collect them all. How…"

The man shook his head. "The Sindar clan and many other people who know our burden. You too must know this curse these runes give us. It is time for us to end it."

"I won't let you get away with this…I won't let it end like this…" Hikusaak then collapsed to a deep sleep.

"Forgive us." Said one of the men as he petted the Hikusaak's head.

"Lets go."

The nodded at each other and left hall.