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.
Ten minutes after Lucia had sounded the silent alarm, the leaders of Budehuc Castle had arrived in the meeting room. Hugo looked around him. He could count six....Lucia, his mother....Dupa, representative of the Lizard Clan...Thomas, master of Budehuc Castle...Cecile, leader of the Castle Guard...Salome, second-in-command of the Zexen Federation...and her.
Hugo tensed up, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Chris looked at Hugo, and stared directly at him. She furrowed her brow, and turned away, beginning conversation with Salome. Was it...pity? What does she think she's getting at? If she thinks I'll be fooled by her, she's wrong. Hugo let these random thoughts pace his head, as the meeting came to place.
"Order, order!" Thomas called out with a clear voice, silencing the random talking going on in the room. "We have come here because an matter of extreme urgency has been brought to view. Lucia, would you continue?" As he finished, Cecile looked at him with awe. He was no longer the cautious young adult he had been upon arriving to the castle four months ago...he was mature...he was a man.
"Thank you Thomas. Two hours ago, a fighter of my village, Aila, was teleported to the courtyard. She had suffered grave injuries, and was treated immediately by Doctor Tuta and Nurse Mio. Fifteen minutes ago, we questioned Aila briefly, on what had happened. The worst has been confirmed: Geddoe and his men have been defeated by Luc. They have lost Jacques, the archer. Aila confirmed that Luc has taken the True Fire Rune of Geddoe. She also said that he had the True Earth Rune as well. I can assume that someone in Harmonia must've had it, since no one in Grassland or Zexen could've born it without us knowing. However, that is not the worst part. It has finally happened...the Flame Champion has fallen." Lucia stopped, letting the effect of her words sink into the minds of her audience.
"H...How is this possible? If Geddoe couldn't defeat Luc...how could we? My god..." Thomas was flabbergasted, as he sat down in his seat. Cecile rushed to his side, consoling her master.
"Indeed...as you know, my son wields the True Lightning Rune, and Chris wields the True Water Rune. We can only assume that Luc will come after them next. This CANNOT, and WILL NOT be allowed to happen. Aila also said that Luc had equipped the three true runes on his body...all at once. One rune made him one of the strongest mages in the land. I can only imagine what three could do..." Lucia finished, sitting back down in her seat.
"...this is grave news indeed. What can we do about it? It seems inevitable that Luc will defeat us...how can we defeat him?" Salome asked the leaders, with a puzzled look on his face.
"Even if we did find a way, it could not work. The Flame Champion defeated...the news will break the morale of our men. They will have no will to fight without their hero...Dammit!" Dupa stamped his Grides into the ground, in obvious anger.
"I agree with Dupa. The soldiers only fought because Geddoe had led them on. Without him, they do not want to fight. This is a meaningless war. As much as I hate to say it, we are fighting for a lost cause." Chris backed up the Lizard Clan fighter, with an equally angry look on her face.
"Look at you!" Everyone turned, to look at the furious eyes of Cecile, castle guard captain. "All of you are just giving up! How can you? Zexen...Grasslands...even Harmonia...they are all counting on us to win! How can you think of quitting? Everyone is depending on us. If we cannot fight, we might as well just surrender to Luc right now." The words of Cecile echoed in the room, as an awkward silence followed. Hugo stayed seated in the corner, watching the events unfold. Suddenly, his mother stood up.
"Cecile is right. We cannot give up now. To do so would to spit in the face of all the people of the land. However..." Lucia started to say, pausing for thought. "However....I have another suggestion. It's farfetched, but it may work."
"Well? Say it!" Salome shouted in obvious impatience, as Thomas glared at him with a reprimanding look. Lucia gave an equally evil glare at Salome, then continued.
"Fifteen years ago...I aided Jowy Atreides in his fight against the Allied Army. I failed of course, and am here to live about it. I regreat my past...but I now realize something." Lucia finished, and continued on. "We need more allies. Our major fighter has been defeated. We know that many other True Runes exist. The Rune of Beginning, The Blue Moon Rune, the Circle Rune, the Dragon Rune, the Soul Eater, the Gate Rune, the Night Rune, and the Sovereign Rune. Hikusaak is missing, and asking him for the Circle Rune is impossible. The Sovereign Rune is missing. The Night Rune...I will address it later. The Dragon Rune belongs to Joshua Levenheit. The Blue Moon Rune...Sierra would never let us have it. The Gate Rune is impossible, Leknaat would not aid us. The Rune of Beginning and the Soul Eater...we know where they are."
"They belong to Riou and Tir McDohl. These two have helped save the continent twice before, fifteen years ago and eighteen years ago. We need their help, to defeat our enemy. They knew Luc, and know more about him than any of us, save Viki or Futch. Pesmerga...Viktor...Flik...we need our allies of old. I hope you know what I am suggesting."
"We must find these old allies, and get them to help us. We cannot win without them. The plan is obvious to me; Myself, Viki, and Futch will go search for our old allies. The rest of you will hold a defensive against Luc. We will need a month at least to find these old allies...but they will deliver. I just hope that they will join us." Lucia finished, but stayed standing.
"Then let me help as well." Everyone turned their heads, to see the bishop of Harmonia, Sasarai standing there at the door. "I know about Riou and Tir. I can help find them. I might have been their enemy, but I have changed my ways."
"You." Salome's eyes glared with malice, as he drew his mace. "What are you doing here?"
"Luc took my True Earth Rune. The kingdom of Harmonia has abandoned me for the time being...I must seek a way to defeat my brother." Before Salome could comment, Lucia started.
"Very well. Sasarai, you will come with us. We will ask Lilly Pendragon to go with us as well; for safeguarding as far as Tinto. We leave tomorrow. Dismissed." With that, everyone left the room. Only Hugo was left by himself, and as he walked out, he shook his head at the impending threat of open war.
I haven't played Suikoden 1 or 2...I hope I have my history right. R/R