Polished
By: Zell's Lollipop Ninja
Rating- PG (may change)
-----------------------------
I have eternity to lament my deeds.
Your words echo in my mind
"Why won't you just let go."
Perhaps my hands a frozen in place.
-----------------------------

Chapter One: Angel

"Check." Chris said flatly, placing her knight just in range of the black king.

Sasarai rubbed his chin as he pondered the next move to make. Chris's pale purple eyes were locked firmly on him, waiting for his next move. The game had been going on for what seemed like hours. The two players each had four pieces left. The game was difficult, but far more enjoyable than one would usually expect.

Sasarai moved the black bishop to the knight's position, pushing the piece aside. The female warrior scowled.

"It's so late… It must be past midnight," she muttered, carefully massaging her eyes.

Sasarai mocked her friendlily, "You just can't stand losing, can you milady?" When Chris grimaced at him he burst out laughing.

"I hate to detract from your happy attitude dear bishop…" the weary knight pushed aside the Harmonian's bishop and placed her rook in its place. Sasarai's laughing soon dissipated, which quickly came to a halt.

"Well," Sasarai stated, "I wasn't expecting that."

"Some unexpected things are good, though. But then again, look at your position."

Sasarai scoffed, his mind happy and heart high on the amusement of a good game. It had been so long since he had had such a worthy opponent. Lady Chris was an amazing woman, rivaled by none in the skills of war and society.

Sasarai stared blankly at the message for what seemed like hours. Kamisa brought him his lunch in the early afternoon, and he was still vacant when dinner rolled around. The bishop had not taken a bite of food. He just gawked down at the writing, entranced by the message it held.

That evening at around six thirty, Dios rushed into the room. "Bishop Sasarai, I have something important to tell you."

Sasarai slowly lowered his head and pressed his face against the telegram. He clasped shut his viridian eyes. Dios, towering over his seated companion, said nothing. The blonde soldier averted his eyes from his commander and strolled out of the house. Sasarai knew. No need to actually say…

That Lady Chris Lightfellow was thought to have perished in the last battle of the Tinto-Zexen War.

According to reports, no body was found. Her armor was bloodied and abandoned in the woods outside the battlefield. The knight's horse was about forty feet deeper in the forest, dead. Search parties had been looking about the area for days, but she was no where to be found. After a week, the men of Zexen were willing to admit that she was gone.

Dios did not leave his friend's yard. He plopped himself down on the doorstep, lost in thought. He glanced up quietly at the sky. The clouds moved about faster than usual, dissipating and adjoining again and again.

Georgio always loved the game where he stared up at the sky, naming what all that the clouds appeared to be.

"Looks like… An angel…" he muttered absent mindedly. "A cup of tea… A snake…"

As Dios continued to speculate on the shapes of the clouds, Bishop Sasarai slumped out of his mansion. In his hands was his formal black overcoat. Dios fell silent again, slightly embarrassed by his childlike display.

"I'm going to light a candle at the temple. Go home."

The Harmonian soldier blinked. "Um… yes, sir."

"Send Georgio and Cecilia my regards." While stepping down the staircase, Sasarai pulled the jacket on. Dios's eyes followed the Bishop until he was out of sight, then resumed looking up at the clouds. "A bottle of medicine… A ring… A sword… A rook chess piece…"

How wonderful it must be to have a family and friends…

Why have I always been alone…? Time is just too fleeting amongst mortals… But she… was immortal too. Why is she gone too?

Why does everyone leave me?

Sasarai's eyes fluttered slightly as the wind brushed against his face. He realized he had walked straight past the temple and continued down the road. The bishop turned back around.

Little Georgio loves the game where you look up at the clouds and say what the clouds looked like…

Was I ever a child…? I… can't seem to ever remember any sort of childhood… My parents… I had no parents… I had no family… What am I supposed to be…?

Well, at least I have all the time in the world to find that out.

"I walked past the temple again!" Sasarai realized, coming to a stop again. "I should pay more attention to where I am going…" And so Sasarai continued to meander about the empty Temple walkways.

-----------------------------

"Dad!" Georgio jumped up from the dinner table and ran to his father. Dios grinned as Georgio hugged him, rubbing the boy's head with his gloved hand. Cecilia peered up from the book she was reading in the next room.

"Hey there, kid." Dios chuckled. "Hello Cecilia."

Cecilia Reane sensed her husband's sadness from the obviously forced laugh. "Georgio, Finish your dinner."

"Okay, Ma." The boy shuffled back into the kitchen without another word. He knew something was up as well.

"What's wrong, sweety?"

"Hm?"

"It's quite obvious something happened from the look on your face. Please tell me, Di…"

"An old friend of Sasarai's died in the war a few days ago. He's really shaken." Dios sighed and sunk into the large leather armchair. He faintly rubbed his temples. "It's just upsetting to see him in such disarray…"

Cecilia sighed, sitting on the arm of her husband's chair. "You know, this job is constantly making you miserable. I still think we should…"

"No, Cecilia, I like my job and I do not want to 'start over' in Chisha. I love Harmonia and Bishop Sasarai is like a brother to me…"

"I know, I know," she muttered, "it's just I hate seeing you so down. Dear Bishop's depression might be rubbing off on you."

"No, I have all I need right here. What is there to be down about?"

-----------------------------

"And may she find the great reward that lies beyond this land," Sasarai prayed staring vacantly at the faint red glow of the candle he had lit in memory of Lady Chris.

"Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum…"

Sasarai ignored the faint footsteps as they entered the temple. His eyes remained locked on the weak glow that illuminated his area.

"Magnificat anima mea Pacem. Amen."

The young-bodied holy man threw his head back and stared up at the ornately decorated ceilings. The forms of angels stared lazily down at him from their lofty realms in the sky, uncomforting and vacant. "What's it all worth, anyway?"

"Don't ask me…" a soft, pained voice murmured from behind him. "I never really understood it myself…"

Sasarai turned absent mindedly. He blinked several times. Towards the center of the temple stood a petite woman with flowing, silver hair. She wore a simple orange blouse and form-fitting brown pants. She stared about with vacant amethyst eyes.

"Chris?"

"Good evening, Bishop Sasarai. You weren't at your home so I thought you might be here." Chris strolled absentmindedly up the isle, staring at all the objects and paintings in the area. "This temple is beautiful."

Sasarai met her halfway, blazing down the soft red carpet as fast as his legs would take him. Upon coming to her, he reached for her in a daze. The bishop placed one of his hands on her shoulder. She was there.

"Chris." Sasarai drew Chris into a friendly embrace, leaving her rather perplexed.

"Let's head back to your place, Sasarai. I really need to discuss some important matters with you in a slightly… less public area."

Without a thought he muttered, "All right." It was all just too unreal…

-----------------------------

"Kamisa, coffee!" Sasarai bellowed as soon as he entered his household, followed by his surprise visitor.

The young Calerian chef quickly turned her head from the drink she was sipping at the dining room table. "Yes Sir!" She scurried off down the hall towards the kitchen.

Chris muttered, "This place seems rather…"

"Empty?" Sasarai smiled at his own statement, turning into the sitting room. A warm, welcoming fireplace crackled against the far wall. The bishop gestured to the large sofa that was set before the controlled blaze. The bishop sat carefully at one end of the couch.

"Well, yes…" She replied, taking a seat at the other side of the couch.

"I must ask you now…" Sasarai sighed, "what in the name of god is going on here? I was told that you… had died… You had me quite worried."

"I had nothing left for me in Zexen. My men, you remember them?" Sasarai nodded in response. "They are all dead. Also, I have Howling Voice Guild Gunners after me so often my head spins. I just want to start over. I needed some place to do it. You, my dear friend, seem to have the best connections and I know you would help me…" Sasarai smiled sympathetically. He understood. Oh… what it would be like if he could only do the same!

"What do you wish me to do? I could get you your own team on the Southern Frontier Defense Force, since Geddoe took his leave a few days ago for the Maximillian's base. If I only knew sooner I could have sent you with him…"

"I… I don't want to fight anymore. Not for now, at least. And I don't think Sir Geddoe would have wanted my company…"

The bishop agreed, "Yes, he isn't much of a people person… If you don't want to fight, how about you work at the temple? We are always looking for new women to work in the choir…"

Chris laughed sweetly. "You don't want me to sing. Believe me. I can't just stay here with no reason! It is utterly scandalous for a woman to appear from nowhere and move in with a man of the church. What is there… what is there?"

"I seriously don't know… Where is my tea anyway?"

"Well, you only sent the girl a minute ago."

"It's usually here by now though… Usually the glasses come in eight pieces and the tea is spilt all over me but still… Maybe I shouldn't have fired Katherine."

"You mean that maid you had that was a human monsoon?"

"Yes…"

Chris's mouth contorted into a grin. Her eyes sparkled in the firelight at the thought. Sasarai raised an eyebrow. "You can't be serious!"

"Why not?" Chris protested, smiling.

"In your whole life, have you ever been without a servant yourself? Not to mention it would be so uncomfortable having to give you orders…"

"Just until the heat dies down. I'll leave whenever you want me to."

"I still don't know…"

"Please? This is the safest place I can think of and I most surely will do my best at the jobs of a servant." Her shining purple eyes pleaded with him. It was time that he admitted defeat.

"Fine."

"We were out of tea, Bishop Sasarai, so I made some coffee instead. I hope I have not inconvenienced you." Kamisa placed the tray on the small table, careful not to break anything.

"Ah, Kamisa," Sasarai greeted his chef cheerfully, "I'd like you to meet our new maid…"

"Christina Freeman." Chris happily extended her gloved hand which was received with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Freeman."

For some reason, Sasarai still felt uneasy. This was so strange! How would he be able to adjust to it? Not to mention… what would he tell Dios?

"You're not from around here, are you? You aren't dressed like help… or even as if you're from Harmonia. Want to go shopping for some more… fitting attire?"

"Well, I would like to get settled here first…" Chris muttered at the friendly young woman.

"Okay then, just tell me your measurements," Chris turned bright red and Sasarai blushed as well, "and I could pick up some clothes for you in town. Bishop Sasarai covers such work related expenses for all those who work here."

"Um, alright. Sure."

Well, Sasarai mentally snickered, those worries can wait until tomorrow.

-----------------------------

Hey All! That's chapter one!

Did you see it coming? I sure think I did. But I wrote it.

I am changing the genre of this fic to pure Drama. Though, maybe I'll chuck in romance to it once I get a better feel of how I am gonna write this… It's got this overwhelming soap opera feel to it… But I like soap operas. You should watch General Hospital. Look for Jason, played by Steve Burton .^_^

Oh, expect me to update about once a week!

Lastly, I want to suggest to all of you to join a really fun Suikoden webblog. It's a real blast, and the people there all seem pretty cool. Not to mention, I should really be recruiting people...

Check it out at:
Suikoden.pitas.com

Well, that's it for me. See you all later!
--Kate