by Jeremy Gordon (gordon8_26@yahoo.com)
Note: This fic takes place in the S3 timeline. All the viewpoints have merged by now, and time has progressed. It's about in Chapter 5 by now. The true runes have NOT been taken from Hugo and Chris, but Geddoe has lost his.. This will mainly be from Hugo's perspective. I might change the game history a bit, but not by much. This will be a long fic, approximately 20-30 chapters or so. Suikoden is copyrighted to Konami. *SPOILER ALERT* There are spoilers for Chapter 4 and 5.
Hugo stared out at the blue ocean, thinking to himself. It was the third month of the war, and the forces of Budehuc Castle were at a standstill with the wizard Luc and his minions. It had been three months since Geddoe had taken the True Fire Rune and become the Flame Champion, leading an offensive attack against Luc. Hugo paused, and stared at the True Lightning Rune on his right hand, shaking his head. How had it come to this? It was only four months ago that Hugo had set out from the Karayan Village, with his friends Lulu, Sgt. Joe, and Fubar in tow. Lulu...
Hugo punched the rail of the ship, in anger. Dammit..., he thought, closing his eyes. She killed him. The silver-haired maiden...she had killed Lulu. In one fell swoop, she had killed him. It echoed through Hugo's mind, constantly. He had stopped his retaliation against her in the time of war, but he would never forgive her. No, Hugo could not give up Lulu like that. When this is over...I will kill her. I swear to you Lulu...I will kill her.
Hugo walked into the courtyard of Budehuc Castle, staring around him. It was a beautiful place, with an incredible bevy of people to interact with, daily. "Hey Edge."
"Hugo! What's up?" The wandering swordsman Edge looked up, waving his hand in greeting.
"Nothing much. Just walking around...you?" Hugo answered, looking the red-haired man in the eye.
"Same. I've done nothing in the three months I've been here anyways." Edge chuckled, shifting the Star Dragon Sword to the right of him.
"How true, same he---" Hugo started to answer, but his answer was snapped short by a buzzing sound, and a *PLOP!* noise. A figure fell in front of him, and rolled over. As Hugo ran to the person, he saw it was a female, and that her face was bleeding. In sudden shock, Hugo recognized her.
"AILA!"
"How is she doing?" Hugo asked Lucia, who turned around to face her son.
"She's fine...Tuta says she's woken up by now." Lucia responded, her face folded in sorrow. Aila was like a daughter to her...if she had died, Lucia wouldn't have known what to do.
"Good, then we can ask her what happened." From behind Lucia echoed the harsh voice of Salome, second-in-command of the Six Zexen Knights. Lucia's bright eyes flashed in anger.
"Absolutely not! This child has just recovered from the brink of death. We will wait a day, for her to recover."
"No. This cannot be. Luc could strike at any time. We need to know what happened, and what has happened to the rest of her company. Stand aside, or I will be prepared to use force." Salome said sternly, drawing the handle on his mace.
"I'd like to see you TRY." Lucia hissed, pulling out her whip. The two looked each other in the face until a third interrupted them.
"Please! Don't fight! This is a place of peace!" Thomas, master of Budehuc Castle yelled, his face in worry. "Salome, let Hugo ask Aila about what happened. Lucia, try to understand Salome...we have to find out what happened. Hugo, you know her best, so you should go."
"Hmph. It's nice to see that ALL men with power aren't conceited fools. Hugo! Let's go." Lucia sneered in her opponent's face, turning around and proceeding into the room. Hugo followed his mother, shaking his head in disbelief. He just couldn't believe her.
Hugo walked into the room cautiously, on light feet. He saw Mio the nurse sitting down, next to Aila. Mio nodded her head in approval, and gestured for the young Karayan to come closer. Lucia stood back in the corner of the room, watching her son. Hugo walked up to Aila, and sat down.
"Aila...? Are you awake?" Hugo asked softly, staring at his friend. Tears came to his eyes, and he shook them away.
"H..H...Hugo? Is..that you?" The eyes of the young girl opened, as she turned her head to look at Hugo.
"It's me..." Hugo was happy to know that she was okay. Then, remembering his mission, he sat up straight and cleared his throat. "I need to ask you something. Who did this to you?"
"It...it...it was Luc..." Aila whispered, her eyes filling up with water. "That bastard...he ambushed us in Mount Senai. We had freed the people of Le Buque...they had escaped, with the help of Iku and F-F-Franz." Aila coughed, sending up a smidge of blood. Hugo withdrew, in shock. Mio dabbed the lips of the girl with a wet cloth, and administered some medicine. Aila sat back up again, and continued.
"He...he took Geddoe's rune. I don't know how he did it, but he did. He said he would be coming after Chris, and then you. Before we could escape, he attacked us. He somehow found a way to wield more than one true rune at the same time...he had his wind rune, the True Earth Rune, and the True Fire Rune all equipped at the same time. Before he could kill us, Duke and his group intervened, and stalled for us to escape. We ran...we just ran. I looked back, and Luc had knocked out Elaine already, but the other three looked okay."
"We got to the end. But...waiting for us was Yuber. He unleashed the might of his Eightfold rune on us. He beat Geddoe, Queen, Ace, and Joker easily. Jacques tried to fend him off...but Yuber killed him. He started to attack me. Before he could kill me, I was here. I don't know how..." Aila sniffed, and laid back down, closing her eyes.
Hugo was dumbfounded, and in his second state of disbelief in ten minutes. "Will she be okay?" he asked Mio, who turned to answer him.
"She'll be fine...she just needs some more rest. She should be good in a week or so." The young nurse answered, tending to her patient. Lucia walked up to Hugo, who stood up upon hearing Mio's answer.
"Hugo." Lucia said firmly, gripping her son's shoulder. "This is an urgent matter. We must tell the rest of the leaders...Geddoe has fallen." Hugo nodded, and followed his mother as she walked out the room.
R/R I'll have the second part up by the end of next week.