Demons & Weddings

Agrias's suspicions of the incident on Ovelia's birthday was only strengthened by what happened in early October. Delita had found another girl, and was already planning to marry her. It made the young Holy Knight very skeptical, why would the grieving king remarry so soon? Margurita was already making her theories of the why and how Delita had done something to kill Ovelia, which wasn't helping the devastated swordswoman one little bit. She just wanted to know the truth.

"I'd have to agree with Margurita," Agrias told Meliadoul, "He had to have something to do with it. Whenever Ramza talked to Delita, he seemed to be taking part in some sort of underground scheme. That man was willing to betray everyone in order to get what he wanted. Delita went crazy after what had happened to his sister at Ft. Zeikden, that's what Ramza thinks. And Balmafula has also told us of the things he'd said to her on several occasions, as well as his talks with Olan. I never trusted his little story as to what happened that day. This is just the final nail on the coffin, he murdered her."

"Agrias, I never met Delita but I can trust the words of those who have. Luckily, Ramza has no desire to go and see his wedding, else we'll be in really deep. If he had, I think that Tess and I would have to knock him out and send him to the clinic. I trust Sage and Leon to keep him from getting into trouble, he takes their advice in medical matters like that," Meliadoul stated.

* * *

They were at Lesalia on the day of the wedding, but not to see Delita. Tess was gathering some information for Agrias, wanting to see if she could hear something that would give a clue as to exactly what had happened on that fateful day. She was used to staying to the shadows, in order to spy on others. Ramza had used her on more than one occasion to send messages to others if the group had to split up for whatever reason in order to trap enemies in a pincer attack.

She watched Delita and the young woman walk down the isle. But she also had ears tuned towards all of the city, in order to find out if she was in any danger. Nothing could be heard from Delita, the woman probably wasn't in the picture when he'd killed Ovelia. She'd have to come back that evening, and listen to what he might say when he was in the privacy of his own room.

Suddenly, a female scream could be heard from behind. Tess turned around quickly, knowing at once that it was one of their group. Her heart, always guiding her to protect her from her naivete, was telling her to run back towards the camp, and that a battle was going on with the others.

* * *

Alma screamed, "Leave me alone! If you don't, my brother is going to come back and kill you. And you can find me to be quite a challenge indeed." The Cleric was willing to take that bluff, she was afraid of getting hurt in the battle. She held her Cosmetics Bag out, and whacked the Ultima Demon with it. But the creature just kept coming, as if Alma's attack had done nothing to it.

Elmdore was laughing. "You, a mere child, are going to kill me? Don't be silly. My all-powerful Ultima Demons will never be beaten by the likes of you. Just call for your brother, he will not be able to save you now. Since we can no longer use you to summon Altima, with the sealing of Murond Death City, you are of no use to us anymore. Now, you die." He thrust Murusame at her.

Alma used her bag to block, but the sword went right through it. It ended up grazing her shoulder and causing her to bleed. But there was no time to heal herself, she had to get away from this madman. If only Ramza was here, or Agrias, or Mel, or Orlandu, or anybody else who could use their weapons or spells to kill him. The one thing she knew was that she was not as strong as she hoped.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and then a second. When Alma looked up, the Ultima Demon lay dead, and Elmdore had a wound in his arm. She turned to see who her savior was, and saw the form of Mustadio Bunanza. He ran up to her, aiming his Blaze Gun at the wicked demon.

"You will leave the lady alone," he said, "If you turn tail and run, I will let you live. But if I find you trying to attack an innocent woman again, I will show no mercy. I usually don't like to kill if it can be avoided, but when my friends are threatened, you bet I will fight to the finish."

"Mustadio! Run! Please, I don't want to see you hurt over me. There's no way you can take on all of the demons he can summon on your own. Run and get help, it's the only way to defeat him. So just get out of here, save yourself," begged Alma, her eyes filled with tears.

But Mustadio just shook his head. He would never allow any of his friends to get hurt, their lives meant everything to him. The young Engineer aimed his gun towards Elmdore's heart, and shot. But although the wound was great, the wicked Arc Knight wasn't dead yet. His demonic powers had saved his life, and he fled, knowing that he would have to take out the Engineer to get to Alma.

* * *

Alma asked him, "Why did you risk yourself for me? All I am is a burden to my brother, just someone who has to come along in order to keep from getting killed. Even my bluffs are no good. You would all be much better if I wasn't here to make trouble for Ramza."

Mustadio looked at her, the sorrow in her eyes. "That's not true, Alma. You are not a burden, there are things that only you can do. I would never abandon any of my friends in their time of need, and that includes you too. So don't worry, you are safe with me."

"Why?" she asked, "Why do you do such things for me?" The girl looked into his eyes, and blushed terribly. Some sort of energy was radiating from Mustadio, something that she could not define. It could almost make a person feel weak, and like they wanted to stay there forever.


"Can't you see? I love you, Alma. There's nothing that I won't do for you," Mustadio whispered.

Alma hadn't expected that. And she didn't expect what had happened next either. She allowed herself to fall forward into his arms, and he held her close. Then, as she looked up once more, her lips met his, and they shared a long and meaningful kiss.

- - - -

Took a little thinking to figure how to get him to fess up. Nothing much else to say.