Disclaimer: Um, if you don't know that I don't own Shadow Hearts by now…I'm worried.
**
Reviewers:
Tiger5913: Yeah, they are pretty cute. And practically the easiest pair to write about other than Yuri and Alice.
Celine Flac the sorceress: Oooh…long pen name. By the way, I checked your bio out…go Artemis/Holly!
About Keith/Margarete…I like them too, but I don't know how to write about them. It's very frustrating, but I'll see if I can do more about them later on.
Radical Rex: Well, Gutterfiend and Greyfriars both say there's no mention of the orphan's families in the game. So if you're saying she couldn't have only because of her age, first of all, there's an explanation for that. Second of all, don't assume a dream means something just because the character interprets it a certain way.
And I think a fic does have to be believable to a certain degree. For example, if I suddenly produced man-eating dinosaurs all named Bessie, I think you'd stop reading pretty quick.
Yuri: Bessie dinosaurs?
It's from FoxTrot, okay? And Koudelka will probably remain a minor character.
Delka: Thanks for the review! Yay!
Gutterfiend: Thanks for telling me about the orphan's families…
Hmm…all these reviews about characters dying. Maybe I should kill someone off…
Regina: Make it Alice, make it Alice…
Noo! I can't kill her off! That'd be too sad…at one point when thinking about this story though, I did have it end with Yuri's death. But I've changed the story since then, so that probably won't happen.
Yuri: (Lets out a sigh of relief)
Nights Mistress: Yay! People show concern for Halley! By the way, he wakes up in this chapter-
Yuri: You're spoiling the story.
It's called a teaser! Besides, if he slept any longer he'd be in a coma or something.
Greyfriars: Thanks also for telling me about the families. Yeah, by now Sharon is pretty much becoming a more important character, even though it wasn't originally planned that way…
Yuri: The plot is changing all the time. It's really pretty messy…
I like to compare it to a road trip from California to New York, with poor directional skills and lots of tourist traps.
Yuri: That's not reassuring, Aegis.
**
Author's Note: Okay, at first I thought Sharon was maybe 7 or 8, but most people say 6 or maybe even 5. I guess this shows how good I am at guessing ages… (sweatdrop)
Gutterfiend is the only person who tried to guess about the story. But all of it was right. There is going to be a lot of crazy stuff (especially in this chapter [Two days in one chapter, a new record!]) and Alice is going to be in a lot of trouble. Poor Alice…
Yuri: Why are you being mean to her?
It's in my nature. But most people were nice to me and said an alternate world would be believable, seeing as all the strange things that happen in Shadow Hearts.
Just a little warning, the train scene later in the chapter might seem kind of odd. I wrote that part kind of later at night. Also, I called save points 'resting spots'. I know. I'll have to explain that later. This whole chapter seems a bit shaky.
And the mystery pairing is…
Yuri/Regina!
Yuri: WHAT?!
Regina: Yay! (Hugs him)
Yuri: Aegis, you better be joking or I'm going to—
Alright, alright…and the mystery pairing is…
Alice/Halley!
Yuri&Alice&Halley: AEGIS!
Regina: Aww…
What?!
Yuri: Hello! Alice is 5 years older than Halley, at least!
So? You're four years older than her.
Yuri: But she's my girlfriend!
Cradle robber.
Yuri: (Starts cracking his knuckles)
(sweatdrop) Okay, okay. The mystery pairing is Halley/Persephone. Gutterfiend and Double-R were right. Happy now?
Halley&Persephone: We're not.
Anyway, at this point all pairings other than Yuri/Alice are more hypothetical. They might be the only pairing, or we might have all four (four if Joshua/Sharon is counted). On the plus side, we do have some Regina/Yuri action in this chapter! (Which was added in a fit of "Let's torture Yuri!")
Yuri: Please tell me you're joking.
I'm not.
Regina: Yay! (Tackles him to the ground this time)
Have fun Yuri!
**
This time, Yuri brought himself to the Graveyard. He liked it better when the visit was willingly rather than forced; for some reason, it made things less dream-like.
At first, though, he was sure it had to be a nightmare. There were the graves, each carved with their symbol, but they were cracked and worn, as though years had passed since he'd last been here instead of a day. He walked towards the first set of graves, of Water, Fire and Earth. Since the Fire gravestone wasn't shining, he guessed that Regina wasn't here yet. Good. He wanted some time to himself, without worrying that something was going to happen.
He walked down the steps and moved on to the next two. Light and Air stood next to each other and he noticed that they were similar to the first three, worn down. Curiously, he touched the Light gravestone. Usually when they were touched, he felt an emotion become stronger in him. If he was getting close to gaining another fusion soul, he could feel an energy in the stone that would pulse to the beat of a heart. But when he touched it now, he felt cold stone--and a strange feeling inside of him. It had to be the emotion, but it felt different from what he had felt before. Keeping his hand to the stone, he tried to think of what its usual emotion it was. Concern. Concern for companions. But this definitely wasn't concern. It was cold, colder than the stone. Indifference?
He took his hand back, looking at the stone. Now that he wasn't touching it, the feeling faded away, but he was growing more intrigued by this. Was it just this grave, or were all the graves now with different emotions? Not just different-but totally opposite.
Yuri walked back now to the Water grave, since he remembered best what that emotion was. Sorrow. Standing in front of it, studying the grave, he came up with its opposite, joy, and then touched the grave, expecting to feel that.
It wasn't joy, but it definitely wasn't sorrow. It didn't feel like much in fact; it was more like a void in him than anything else. An inability to feel sorrow or regret for anything.
A void…then again, indifference would come from having no concern, wouldn't it? So instead of giving different emotions, the graves were…
Experimentally, he walked from each grave of Fire, Water, and Earth, feeling the different emotions vanish at their touch. Then, he reached out and touched two at the same time, feeling both emotions vanish.
I like this, Yuri thought suddenly, startled. It became an amusing game to him, to experience an emotion, focusing on certain memories to make it stronger, then touching a stone and feeling it wiped from his mind, only to return in full force when he broke contact. He started wondering what exactly the graves had to do with each emotion.
"Enjoying yourself?"
Yuri started suddenly, breaking his contact with the Earth stone, making a rage return that the sight of Regina did not help. "What do you want?" he snapped, feeling both irritated and foolish.
Regina was taken aback by this, but said with just a touch of sarcasm, "I thought there might be something you would want." She pointed at the graves.
"Yeah, I got your message from Lilia," he said. "But I can't say I'm happy with the other things she did. From what Alice says, Halley was beaten up pretty badly."
Regina shook her head, stung by the mention of Alice. "That was not her fault. He started the fight."
I wonder if that's really true… "And what about Sharon?"
All he got was an impatient shrug. "Am I to answer for everything she did? All I told her was to get you to listen. It was up to her to decide what was necessary to be done."
Well. That wasn't going to get him anywhere. "Fine. What the hell do you have to tell me that's so important?"
"You wouldn't believe me." That was all, and then she simply stood there.
This was, of course, not an acceptable answer. "So you're not going to tell me?" Yuri asked in disbelief. He started walking towards her, almost yelling, "After everything Lilia did today, now there's no point to it?! I swear, I'm going to-"
"I didn't say that," she said. "But I need to give you proof, obviously. If I didn't, no doubt you would choose that girl's word over mine."
"And you have proof?" Yuri said skeptically.
Regina turned away then. "Yes. I have proof."
Yuri folded his arms. "So show me it."
She shook her head gently. "That's not how it works." She walked away from him, with confident, graceful steps, then turned to him again. "We have to meet in the physical world, not your spiritual world. It cannot work here."
"But…?" He could tell, there definitely was a 'but'.
She smiled a soft, sad smile. "No, I cannot come to the village you live in. Neither can Persephone, or Lilia as you call her, bring you my proof. I must bring it to you myself."
"Why can't you come to the town?"
"…I am trapped." Yuri opened his mouth, but she motioned for him to be quiet. "Please, do not ask why. Even if I did explain, once again, you would not believe me." Tears came into her eyes as she said this. "You would never believe me. You never did."
He felt a sense of guilt wash over him as she cried a few silent tears. He tried to push it away; she was just a good actress, she was lying anyway, she didn't deserve any sympathy from him. And yet…seeing those eyes full of tears…
No. Yuri quickly looked down. Why? Why couldn't he look into her eyes and not feel moved? Is it that…I really did once know her?
"So…how do we meet?" he asked once she had composed herself.
Regina pushed some of her fiery hair back with one hand and said, "There is a place where I can meet you, and give you the proof. Do you know of the Nemeton Monastery?"
His eyes narrowed. Why there? But he nodded. "I know where it is."
"Meet me in the ruins. Persephone and I will both be there. She will give you your fusion souls back and then I will give you my proof. By the way, bring the Flare Brooch." She paused and pursed her lips, before adding, "Come alone."
"You want me to come meet you in the middle of those monster-infested ruins, by myself?" The tone in his voice showed his incredulity. "Excuse me, it's hard enough to come there without my fusion souls, but alone? I probably wouldn't survive."
It did hurt his pride to bring that up, but that was better than being killed. Besides, it was her fault that he wasn't exactly in the best fighting condition right now.
"Persephone is a summoner; like she did with the banshees, she will make sure that the monsters are calm," Regina said placidly. "They will not attack you."
"Okay. And how do I know this isn't some sort of ambush?" Yuri said stubbornly.
Regina arched a fine eyebrow at him. "Yuri, if I wanted you dead, you already would be. You were unconscious for a time. Persephone could have killed you then." It was a slight lie, but true enough in effect.
"What if I say I won't come?"
"Hmm." Regina closed her eyes, wishing he wouldn't be so perverse; but that was probably only the spell. "Let me see. In that case, Persephone would keep your fusion souls. I imagine she could have quite a lot of fun with them. After all, how do you think she injured that boy?"
Yuri shook his head, wanting to deny it. Halley was injured…by one of my fusion souls? His shoulders slumped. Defeat. He'd have to come, or people could get killed. "Where are we meeting in Nemeton?"
"Near the resting spot, towards the end. When is the soonest you can come?"
"I…" The Harmonixer made a show of thinking, wondering when could possibly be a good time. Answer: never.
Regina grew nervous when he didn't answer and said, "Please, come as soon as you are able." Her voice was pleading, and Yuri felt a hand grab his. Her skin…it felt like there was a fire beneath, but it also flowed through her, like…water? He looked up and saw those crimson eyes, begging. Give her the truth.
"In…I can come in two days…" he managed, staring into her eyes, finding it hard to focus on anything else. They were so soft and deep and warm…
She smiled. "Thank you…"
The next thing began in a moment of confusion. Afterwards, Regina would believe Yuri had started it, and Yuri would always maintain she had done it. But whoever started it, it didn't change the fact that the two of them were kissing, first hesitantly and unsure, then becoming more urgent and passionate. Regina's eyes slowly closed as she basked in the once familiar pleasure, and she could not resist reaching up to his face--
And then he jerked away, staring at her like she'd grown another head. He was trembling. Yuri was trembling, out of some strange fear he couldn't explain. What the hell had possessed him to do that? Kissing her…he hadn't even been aware he was doing it until she touched him on the cheek.
Regina's eyes looked lost, not knowing why he had stopped. He was turning away from her now, she who had given him so much. "Hyuga-"
"Are we done here?" His voice was cold, but a small tremor betrayed him.
She looked down, trying to calm her feelings. God, why couldn't she just take him now? She needed him, and she felt sure that she could take him now.
No. There was a plan, she'd set it long ago, and she would follow it. There would be no mistakes this time.
"Yes. That is all," she finally said.
Yuri started walking to the gate, wanting to get away from her as quickly as possible.
"One more thing." Yuri stopped and looked back at her. Her face had a curious expression, one he couldn't figure out. "You might not want to tell your companions about this."
Be more specific.
"About?"
"Everything. They'll never understand. They're mortals, they can't be expected to."
"You make it sound like I'm something else," Yuri snapped, his temper starting to flare again.
"Yes. You are. And you have the potential to become much more," she said enigmatically.
He couldn't stand the confusion and games any longer, or whatever she was hinting at. He opened the gates and the Graveyard disappeared.
**
Dawn found Alice walking down the stairs. She had woken up ten minutes ago and, watching the sunrise, had thought that maybe she should check on the children and get a bite to eat.
She was about to walk past the living room when she realized that Yuri was awake. He had chosen to sleep with the children rather than with Zhuzhen and Keith in the guestroom, and was now lying on his back with his legs going up along the wall. A very weird position to relax in, but that was Yuri. She walked up to him, taking care not to disturb Sharon or Chris, and asked in a whisper, "Sleep well?"
"Yeah," he said, but it looked like he'd woken up before he wanted to. His eyes were dull and tired.
She kneeled down by him, straightening her nightgown as she did so. "How long have you been awake?"
He thought about this. "…A while." Yuri's fingers brushed against his lips thoughtfully.
She looked up at where he had been staring earlier, but it was only white ceiling. "What's so interesting?"
No answer came for a while, but finally he sighed and said, "You know that dream I told you about yes…the day before yesterday?" Alice shook her head, confused. "The dream in the Graveyard-"
"I remember," she said suddenly, recalling the conversation. "Did you have another?"
Two. "Yeah. Remember the woman I told you about?"
She remembered a mention of a woman and nodded.
"Does she seem at all familiar to you?" Yuri asked curiously. After all, if Regina knew Alice, it stood to reason that Alice would know her too, right?
"Describe her again," Alice asked.
"She's taller than you, almost as tall as me, she's got long red hair and eyes that are a darker red, pale skin…"
Alice could almost picture the woman in her mind, a hazy threatening shape. "Yes, she does seem familiar for some strange reason. But who could have red eyes?" Alice said. "I've never heard of that. Doesn't sound human."
Maybe she's not, Yuri thought. She was pretty strange, and not just with the eyes. Add to that the fact that she talked like she wasn't mortal and was worshipped as a goddess…something was definitely different about her. "Do you remember her?"
Alice blinked at what she thought was a bizarre question. "Yuri, I've never heard of a woman like that. Though it seems familiar…maybe in a dream?…" She trailed off, and then suddenly said, "But she seems evil to me."
Yuri definitely couldn't argue with that. What she had said about Alice making him forget her…well, if Alice had, then why would she even admit that Regina's description was familiar?
But then, why didn't Alice remember her? He didn't think she would lie, unless…
Did we both forget?
"…stening, Yuri?"
"Huh?"
Alice smiled at his confusion. "I asked if you were listening. What did you dream about?"
"Um…I don't…" Should he tell her now? He still couldn't offer any definite answers, and the idea of him going into Nemeton Monastery alone wouldn't clear with Alice. "…I need to visit Roger Bacon," Yuri said suddenly, his eyes widening as he realized what he could do.
"What?" Alice asked, startled.
He dropped his legs and rolled onto them so he was facing Alice. "Listen, I don't have my fusion souls anymore. And I need to figure out a way to get them back. Who else would know more about that? I mean, he knows everything."
"But…right now?"
"Uh…" Shit! I told Regina two days, why did I have to do that? "Yeah. I mean…what if something like yesterday happens again? It'd be a lot easier with fusion souls," he pointed out.
"Yeah…But you'll miss most of the week, maybe all," Alice said, "Unless…we could all go…yes!" Her eyes lit up with the idea. "Why don't we do that once Halley's awake? I bet the children would love to see his house. I don't think he'd mind…"
Yuri mentally crossed his fingers. "But your mother isn't going to let you go, is she?"
"Well…I'm going to talk to her," Alice said. "It's not like she can keep me here forever. It might take a while, but I'll convince her." She winked at him cheerfully, standing up. "How's about some breakfast now?"
He smiled, but it was a little weak. "Yeah, sure. I could use a little coffee."
**
"Roger?" Margarete looked a little doubtful. "Sure he'll like having ten more people in his house?"
"We could always camp outside," Keith told her.
"Ick."
"Wow! An alien spaceship? Cool!" Joshua yelled, not caring that it was only eight in the morning and that others in the house were still sleeping.
"Of course it's not an actual spaceship," Alice said, laughing at his enthusiasm. "Just looks a little like one."
"I'm not sure if he'll really know a way," Koudelka said doubtfully. "But I guess he is the best person to ask, since Yuri doesn't know any Harmonixers." She looked around. "Where is he, anyway?"
"At his flat," Alice answered. He'd said he needed to pick up something and then had left.
Zhuzhen cleared his throat and said. "Just one problem. How are we paying for the train ride?"
The table was silent. Obviously Alice had not thought of that problem yet. That long of a ride would cost quite some money…how would she pay for it?
Suddenly Margarete laughed, sounding rather devilish. "There's more than one advantage to being a spy. I can get you on almost any train, free of charge."
"Um…you're not going to bomb anything, right?" Alice asked, remembering the train station in Fengtian she had bombed.
Margarete looked irritated while Keith chuckled. "Of course not!" Then she whacked Keith on the head. "And you! Just be quiet. It'll be fine, trust me."
"Then we're going?" Alice asked, to make sure everyone was fine with the change in plans.
Koudelka nodded. "Just as soon as the others are awake."
Then, Margarete heard a groan coming from the living room. Curiously, she stood up from her place at the dining room table and walked down the hallway, where she stopped. "Hey," she called back to the table, "It looks like Sleeping Beauty is waking up."
"Shut up," were Halley's first words upon finally waking up.
**
Yuri actually had to pick up a few things from the flat. First, a change of clothes, since he'd slept without changing. Then he got the bags for the children, so they could change. The Flare Brooch, as Regina had told him to.
However, still skeptical, he also got his claws, along with the few restorative items he had and his armor. It couldn't hurt to be prepared.
**
"How do you feel, Halley?"
"Fine," he mumbled.
"How's your arm? It looked pretty bad yesterday."
Halley looked down at his arm. There was a small scar, where he could tell it had been ripped apart, but it was otherwise all right. "It feels fine."
"And your back?"
"Alice, I'm fine," he said pleadingly. "Can I get off the couch now?"
The others watched Alice's examination of Halley with amusement. She wouldn't allow him to stand up, fearful that he might collapse, apparently. She was always like this when people got injured badly.
"Alice, you helped heal him yourself," Koudelka pointed out. "With how much rest he's gotten, he should be fine."
"Well…" Alice looked him over one more time and said, "I just wanted to be sure." She backed away, allowing him to stand up.
"So…What happened anyway?" Halley asked. "All I remember was getting torn up by Lobos."
"What?!" Margarete demanded.
Halley shook his head. "The girl…Lilia…she summoned Lobos after she took it from Yuri. You guys didn't see it?"
Alice shook her head. "Zhuzhen found both you and Yuri unconscious. Yuri was all right and woke up quickly, but you've been unconscious…for quite some time. Almost a day."
"Oh." Who was screaming 'stop' then? Halley wondered. "Why didn't you guys come sooner?"
"We were rather busy with Sharon," Margarete said.
"She lost control of her monsters again, didn't she?" Halley asked, glancing at the still sleeping girl.
"In a way," Keith said. "The monsters took control of her."
"What?"
"She began to act like a monster," the vampire explained.
Halley looked at him and then shook his head, thinking it couldn't possibly be true. "No…no way. You've got to be joking. That's never happened before."
"We were pretty surprised ourselves," Margarete said softly.
"Sharon's fine now Halley," Koudelka said. "She had a few nightmares last night but eventually she calmed down."
Hearing this, Halley relaxed and then sat down by Sharon. "I hope so…" He looked at her sleeping, with her short brown hair scattered all over the white pillow. "She was one of the first London Rats. Before Chris and way before Joshua."
"Really?"
He nodded. "Who knows how long she's been an orphan…nobody in London even knew who she was. We tried asking around, but even old Carl didn't know anything about her."
"It doesn't matter now," Joshua said impatiently. "She's one of us!"
Halley grinned at that. "Yep, she's one of us."
They heard a sigh and Chris sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Joshua, do you have to be so loud…? Halley!"
"Shh!"
"What's everyone yelling about…?" Sharon opened her eyes and then sat up and launched herself at Halley, screaming, "You're awake!"
"Agh…Sharon…no…choking…" Halley complained as he was practically strangled by a hug.
The adults had a good laugh as both girls began bombarding Halley with the same questions Alice had asked. Then the doorbell rung and Alice went to let Yuri in, telling him that Halley was awake.
"Poor him," he commented, looking in the living room. "Did you tell your mom yet?"
Alice's eyes widened. She had completely forgotten. Or, more like chosen to forget. It wasn't exactly something she was looking forward to. "I'll go talk to her right now," she said and vanished up the staircase.
Yuri sighed and dropped the kids' bags. He sincerely hoped that Alice couldn't come with. If she couldn't come, then most likely the others would not be coming with. He had a bad feeling about this whole thing, and the fact that Regina obviously hated Alice did not make it better.
**
"She says I can go."
Damn it all to hell, Yuri thought even as he smiled and laughed, helping Sharon and Joshua get ready to go.
**
[Alice's POV]
Maybe I worry too much, but I can't help feeling that Yuri isn't telling me something.
His smiles this morning were faked. Now that we're on the train, they're becoming even more obvious, and he looks worried. I asked him if something was wrong once, and he just smiled and told me nothing could be wrong.
The fact that I'm a Demon Eyes is not helping. I can sense that he's worried and afraid and it is getting me frustrated that he won't tell me anything at all. I only want to help…
But then again, it's nothing new. If he thought he would have half a chance, he would probably have gone up against God on his own. Sometimes Yuri is just too proud and stubborn to admit he needs help.
I suppose that's one of the things I love about him, although only after he's finally admitted it. In the meantime, I guess it'll just wear on my nerves.
But what's even worse is that he seems nervous specifically around me, when I'm talking to him. Like he's afraid-of me.
That's ridiculous though. There has to be another explanation for it…
He's sleeping now. Almost everyone in our car is sleeping now. Keith and Margarete have found two more passengers to play a good round of rummy with them. I think I'll just close my eyes and…
White chess pieces. A king and a queen. There are other chess pieces too, but these are the most important.
A slow game of chess is beginning to end. There are fewer and fewer pieces remaining and the moves turn into an attempt to trap each other's king. It's hard to do this though. The other side doesn't have a king, only a black queen that hasn't been taken out yet.
The white queen stays by the king. This way, if there are any pieces that check the king, the queen can take them out.
The black queen moves into the square next to the white king. How foolish this move is. The queen doesn't even have to move, the king can take the queen out.
The king moves, and the white queen is knocked down. The king moves to occupy that spot, and the black queen moves to where the king was.
How can a move like this be allowed? What is the benefit?
The king slowly begins to change, and then it begins to make sense.
The white now drips off of it, showing the black underneath.
And then white turns into red.
**
It's raining outside. I remember my father telling me when I was a child, how the rain was God's grief over the sins of his children.
Now Yuri is asking me what is wrong. My only answer is silence. I don't know what's wrong.
But I feel like I've sinned.
**
[Yuri's POV]
The tears only lasted for a minute or so. Then she brushed them aside and got up to start talking with Margarete.
I'm lost. Let me be the first to say, I'm totally lost.
She woke up, looked outside…and started crying. She never answered my question of what was the matter. Then again, it's not like I answered her question truthfully.
Maybe it's just one of those mood things like women sometimes get into. It does look depressing outside. I hope it's just that.
I hate feeling like this, like there's some sort of wall between us. I want this to be over with as soon as possible. I'll get my fusion souls, see Regina's proof, tell her I don't give a damn, and be done with this whole thing.
Right?
Even with whatever sort of 'proof' she has, there's no way that Alice could have lied or used me in any way. There'll be some sort of hole in it.
…And what if Regina's proof is absolute?
I don't want to even think about that. It can't be a possibility.
**
"WOW! It IS an alien spaceship!"
"Yay!"
Unlike Yuri and Alice, who had hesitated when they thought it was a spaceship, Sharon and Joshua ran straight ahead, running up the steps to the door. They loved being able to run around after being cooped up in first a train and then a carriage for so long.
"How does it open?"
"Maybe there's a button!"
The door opened as they spoke, provoking more wild yells before they ran inside. Margarete looked a little nervous as she asked, "Are you guys sure he'll appreciate having all ten of us in his house? Especially with them."
"We probably won't be staying long," Yuri said. Today, tonight, first train tomorrow. "He might not know anyway."
Margarete pouted. "All my connections, gone to waste…" This statement was followed by a loud crash coming from inside the house.
"What are you children doing in here?!"
"AAAHH! It's a Martian!"
"Well…it seems Roger found Sharon and Joshua," Alice said, looking worried. Yuri couldn't resist a laugh at what Joshua had said. Halley and Chris ran into the house and the others followed them at a slower pace.
"Halley?" Roger Bacon glanced at the boy and then asked, "Would you mind telling me who these children are and why they're in here? I'm glad they enjoy my inventions so much but…"
Halley felt mortified as he followed Bacon's eyes and saw Sharon and Joshua stabbing every single button on the vending machine, hoping to get some sort of reaction. Since they didn't have any money though, it wouldn't work. "Would you two cut it out?!" he yelled at them.
Instantly Sharon stopped, and then after a few seconds poked Joshua, which made him stop as well.
Halley turned to Roger Bacon and said, "Sorry, they're kind of hyper after being let out of the carriage…that's Sharon, that's Joshua, and this is Chris."
"And I'm going to explain why we're all here," Yuri added from above.
Roger Bacon grew very intrigued as he saw Koudelka, Keith, Alice, Zhuzhen, Margarete, and Yuri all standing on the staircase down. "Some sort of reunion planned?" he asked.
Yuri nodded. "Except it kind of turned sour."
**
Bacon's first reaction was to be amused. "I can't believe the six who defeated God," he said sardonically, "were in turn defeated by a single teenager."
"It's not funny," Halley ground out, feeling very sore about losing to Lilia still. "And we weren't ready for a battle. She was."
Roger shook his head and then turned to Yuri. "So, basically this girl has stolen your fusion souls, and you want to get them back? Do you have any idea where she is?"
Well, tomorrow she'll probably be in the ruins, but as for today… "No clue."
"How do you expect me to know about Harmonixing? Nobody knows much about it, that's the thing about it. Very frustrating. For all my research, you yourself probably know much more, since you actually use it." He shrugged. "As I see it, there are two options which are just common sense: you can find her and force her to give them back, say through another summoner, or you can find her and pursuade her to return them. Either way, you have to know where she is."
"But we don't know where she is," Halley said.
Yuri nodded. "Okay, that's fine." The others looked at him strangely, wondering why he was just shrugging off the loss of his fusion souls like this. "Um…Roger? Do you think we could spend the night here?"
"Hmm?" Bacon looked around and said, "I don't know if there's enough room…but go ahead. I'm not planning on sleeping tonight."
"Why not?" Alice asked out of curiosity.
"There's just a few things I want to check on," he said vaguely. "Go ahead and set your things down."
**
After Sharon, Joshua, and Chris had had enough of looking around the house, everyone started getting ready to go to bed. Instead of separating into men, women, and children, like they'd done before (of course someone had to point out that Yuri had been with the children both times), it was just guys and girls.
All the girls were asleep except for Margarete when she decided she wanted to talk to someone. She went over to the guys' side and found Keith still awake.
"Hey," she whispered.
He looked up at her. "Why are you over here? This is the mens' side."
She rolled her eyes. "I know that. You are such a prude sometimes. It's not like any of you sleep in the nude."
Keith had to accept that and said, "So what did you want to talk about?"
"…Did Yuri say anything to you?" Margarete asked.
"I assume you're talking about how he's going to get his fusion souls back."
"Duh. He wasn't worried at all that Roger Bacon doesn't know a way to get them back. He seemed to expect that Bacon wouldn't know a way. But if he thought that, why come here in the first place?" Margarete made sure to keep her voice low so no one would wake up and added, "Kind of weird, right?"
Keith shook his head. "Maybe, but he hasn't said anything. He was one of the first to go to sleep." He looked over in one direction and Margarete followed his gaze to where Yuri slept peacefully. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and Keith asked, "What is it?"
"Nothing. Forget about it Keith, it's probably nothing at all," she said, a little louder than before. "I'm going to sleep now."
"Alright…" Keith looked confused, but decided she was probably right. It probably was nothing at all.
Margarete walked back to her place on the floor, feeling very perplexed. Something was clearly going on. After all, she had been trained to recognize when someone was faking it…
And Yuri was not really asleep.
**
There had been a small change of plans.
Since everyone had been coming with, Yuri had gone to the Graveyard one final time, waiting until Regina came. He had told her it would have to be tonight instead of during the day, since nighttime would be the easiest time to sneak away for maybe an hour or two without anybody realizing it. Then, in the morning, he'd be able to tell them everything.
He did realize they would probably be pissed off as hell at him (especially Alice) but he didn't really have a choice, right? She had said to come alone, and it didn't seem like a good idea to refuse. If one of her servants could kick their butts, and she was there along with who-knows-how-many other people, then they'd probably get massacred.
Yuri waited as Keith and Margarete talked about his odd behavior--I'm really bad at acting, aren't I?--and thankfully Margarete dropped the subject and walked away.
Twenty minutes later, he was still struggling to both act like he was asleep and not actually fall asleep, which was hard seeing as he was boring himself to death. He risked opening his eyes slowly. All males were asleep, good. What about females? He propped himself up on his elbow and looked to his left. They were all asleep; he looked especially hard at Margarete and Alice. Okay, good. They were asleep. Armor, weapons, and accessories were put on, and he gathered the few items he had gotten, putting them in his pockets.
He stood up slowly and made his way up the stairs. He had managed to get himself the spot nearest to it, so he didn't have to step over anyone and risk waking them up. Roger was in the basement of the house, looking over some texts or something like that, so that was fine. He probably wouldn't be coming up for a while.
The door opened with a whoosh and checking to make sure no one was woken up, he walked outside.
Margarete now sat up and thought. She of course had been awake the whole time, and knew how to fake it much better than he did. It was his idea to come here in the first place, so she was sure wherever he wanted to go, it was close by. He'd put on his armor and claws, so he thought there might be fighting. Where on earth was he going?
Oh, dear God. "Alice," she hissed, shaking the woman sleeping next to her, "Alice, wake up!"
"Unh…"
She tried shaking her for a few more minutes, then impatiently used what little skill she had to summon a bit of water, dropping it onto Alice's face. Not the politest way to wake her up, but if Margarete was right, this was an emergency.
"Wh-what is it?" Alice asked, a little annoyed. "Why'd you wake me up?"
"Alice, your boyfriend has officially gone insane," Margarete whispered. "I think he just went off to the ruins!"
This got a confused look from Alice. Margarete desperately wanted to shake her and actually started doing so, very roughly.
"The ruins! The monastery ruins!"
Alice suddenly realized what she was talking about, and her eyes widened as she noticed that Yuri's place was indeed empty.
"No…no way…"
**
Bacon frowned as he heard Alice's shouting from above. What on earth was she getting so excited about?
**
Since that was the agreed meeting place, Yuri was indeed heading for the Monastery Ruins. He ran the whole way, just so he could get this over with, although he did stumble over stray rocks a few times.
When he got there, the huge rock that covered the staircase down had already been moved back. Open invitation. He walked down into the dark chamber and was met by a man standing in front of the Judgement Ring door.
"Who are you?"
In the dark, all that Yuri could tell was that his hair was dark but his skin pale. "I am one of Regina's servants. I assume you are Hyuga?"
"Yeah…what's with all you guys being so pale?" Yuri asked, unable to resist.
"A natural effect of not being in the sun for so long. As Regina is trapped, many of her older servants are trapped as well, and it tends to be that the newer servants also spend much of their time in the tower."
Tower? Earlier Yuri had thought she was trapped in here. "If she's trapped in a tower, how can she come here?"
"Go and meet her, and you will see. I will open the door now," he said, making it clear there was no time for such unimportant questions. He turned and murmured a few words, making the door open.
Yuri stepped past him and through the door, then suddenly turned back. With the torchlight inside now helping him, he could see that the man's skin was darker than he had first thought. Something about him had seemed to change. But before he could think more about it, the door closed again, and he was trapped in the ruins.
Okay…well, if Regina did want me dead, he thought, looking at the door, I've just gone ahead and made it pretty easy for her haven't I?
**
Alice had at first panicked and yelled, demanding to know why on earth he would have done such an idiotic thing. Before Margarete could calm her down, almost everyone was awake and wondering what was going on.
"Alice, I'm not sure, it's just a guess--"
"You wouldn't have said it if you weren't pretty sure!"
"Where'd he go off to?" Halley asked sleepily.
"The monastery ruins. At least that's what I thought," Margarete told him.
"What?! He'd have to be insane to go there."
"Who said he isn't?" Zhuzhen said a bit sarcastically. "Well, let's go check then."
Alice nodded and the five of them plus Keith went in the direction of the ruins, hoping to stop him before he actually went in.
**
Yuri was already pretty far inside the ruins, but so far, he hadn't been attacked. He supposed that was a good sign, even though he still had some misgivings about the whole thing. As he got closer, he could hear Persephone's flute playing, and that was an even better sign. It meant that it wasn't just coincidence that all the monsters he had seen and even walked right past were all lethargic, which had been very odd to see.
Finally he got to the second Judgement Ring door and saw Persephone and a man standing in the resting spot, which glowed blue in response to their presence. Where was Regina?
"Hello, Yuri," Persephone said cordially as he got closer. You'd almost think they were on good terms with each other. "I see you did pay attention to Regina." Noticing that Yuri's eyes weren't on her, but her companion, she sighed and said, "This is Syth."
Syth had to be the most bizarre person Yuri had met, which said something. He was thin with a very small frame, but of an average height. His eyes were an light shade of gray Yuri had never seen before in eyes, but his hair had to be even stranger. It wasn't white, as he had first thought; it was completely clear. Yuri could see through the hair to the wall, although it was a distorted view. It was almost like each strand was a shard of glass-
"Are you done staring?" he asked in a bored monotone.
Yuri forced himself to look at Lilia. "My fusion souls?"
"Yes, I'll give them back now." She grabbed her flute, but then, nodding to his claws, warned, "If you try attacking us after I give them back, first I'll take them away from you, and then I'll give you a beating with your own fusion souls. And the monsters here might not be so happy either. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Yuri said sarcastically. He didn't like being ordered around by a teenager, much less her.
"Good." She closed her eyes and began playing.
**
Alice was happy, relieved, annoyed, and mad all at once. Strange how Yuri could have that effect on her. "Yuri Hyuga, what are you doing here?" Alice asked dryly.
"Um…" They'd found Yuri in front of the first Judgement Ring door, unable, because of his lack of magic, to get in. Instead he'd been caught in the middle of one of his 'kick the door and hope it opens' routines, having the usual amount of success. The Harmonixer now looked appropriately embarrassed and said, "I was trying to get in…"
"Why?"
"Because I thought, since there's monsters in here, maybe I could kill enough to get a fusion soul…" It was the best plausible lie he could think of.
Happy and relieved went out the window. "And that couldn't even wait until morning?" Alice demanded, exasperated. "You know it doesn't make a difference if there's people with you, and it'd be much safer!"
"Geez kid!" Margarete said. "Here I thought you were in trouble or something, and it's just business as usual, being stupid!"
Yuri scratched the back of his head and nervously laughed after being yelled at by both women. Everyone continued to glare at him, especially Alice, who was both mad he hadn't simply told them and embarrassed that she had woken everyone else up when he was clearly fine. Finally he threw his hands up in the air and said, "Alright, alright! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you all upset."
"Well, you did," Zhuzhen muttered.
Halley shook his head. "Let's just go back."
Really, that was very frustrating for Margarete. With how bizarre the kid had been acting before, she had thought it would be something much bigger than a spur of the moment decision to go to the ruins…
Wait a second…
They were completely out of the ruins and had started walking back to Roger Bacon's house with Yuri and Alice in front and the others following them. Margarete trailed them, and then caught up to Zhuzhen.
"Do you notice anything odd about the kid?" she asked.
He looked at her strangely, puzzled by the question. "Why would there be something odd?"
"Just check his aura," she said. She could tell something was up. Yuri had been acting weird earlier in the day, too early for this to have been just spur of the moment. And the fake sleeping…that showed that it had been planned, or else why would he have waited? He could have just gotten up and, if he had woken up someone else, great! One person to accompany him. The lie just didn't make sense, unless Yuri's brains were really scrambled.
Zhuzhen slowly shook his head. "No…it's different again. How did that happen?"
Margarete's eyes widened. She hadn't expected anything; she'd only asked him on a hunch.
"Everyone, stop!" she yelled. Everyone stopped.
"What's wrong?" Keith asked, looking at her. She ignored him as she marched up to Yuri and Alice.
"Yuri, would you like to tell us how the hell it is your aura's different again?"
Alice looked puzzled, but Yuri looked startled. "What are you talking about?"
"Zhuzhen says your aura's changed. Now, seeing as no one noticed earlier, I'm guessing it's as a result of whatever you did in the ruins."
Yuri laughed softly. "In the ruins? I couldn't even get in there, remember?"
Halley spoke up then. "No…your aura is different, and it wasn't like that earlier. What did you do?"
"Yuri…" Alice let go of his hand and asked, "Is there something you should tell us?"
"Well…I should probably tell you I'm not Yuri."
**
This felt pretty good, having all of his fusion souls back. He almost enjoyed their company. Yuri went through each fusion soul in his mind, feeling their presence. All of them were there.
Once through with the mental check, he turned his attention to the boy with gray eyes and glass-like hair. "So where's Regina?"
He looked down at Lilia. "Persephone. Out." The summoner stepped back outside of the circle as the boy closed his eyes and concentrated.
"Hello, Hyuga," Regina's voice said, as well as the man's.
"Holy--" Yuri couldn't find the words. A flickering image of Regina had appeared, superimposed over the boy, her eyes also closed. When she opened them, the boy did as well.
"Please, don't look so shocked," Regina said. "This is the only way I could meet you soon enough." Both a woman's and a man's voice said this at the same time, which Yuri found downright creepy.
"Yeah…so, anyway," he said, trying to hide how uncomfortable he was, "Where's your proof?"
"Do you have the Flare Brooch?"
"Here," Yuri said, handing it over. Luckily, Regina's hand was level with Syth's, or Yuri would have been confused about which hand to put it in.
"Lie down, and take off your coat and shirt."
"WHAT?!"
Both rolled their eyes. "Please, like I'd try anything while I'm being channeled. That would be awkward."
"R-right…" Awkward as hell is right. I mean, right now she's being channeled into a guy, so that would be like--oh jeez, not Meiyuan… Yuri absentmindedly took off his coat and shirt, his thoughts on more disturbing things.
"Lie down in the center, and I'll begin…"
How is this going to prove anything? Yuri shrugged. Oh well. As long as this got her to leave him alone afterwards, there was no point in complaining. He lay down in the center, watching Regina and Syth. They held out the Flare Brooch over Yuri and murmured, "By the power which is in my blood, I consecrate this magic circle for my purposes."
The circle glowed red around Yuri, instead of the blue as before. What on earth is she doing?
"That which I created, come unbound of what has been cast about."
The Flare Brooch started to glow a bright red, looking like it would burn Regina, but she continued to hold it out. A white light appeared then, like a string wound along the brooch…How weird…
Yuri realized suddenly that another light was also coming from him. He lifted his arm and saw the same thing, white lines along his skin in the shape of thin, skinny symbols. Light, coming from him? But he was…
He could see it underneath. A black, pulsing energy that seemed to suck in the light. Yuri shook his head confused. Everything seemed surreal, like it was all a dream… he observed without any surprise that he was no longer on the ground, but floating, caught between the energies of fire and darkness and some strange light…which was…
Alice?
Then, everything became pain.
**
"You figured it out pretty quick," Yuri said. Suddenly, his face grew pale and his eyes turned black, then blue. In the moonlight, his hair darkened to a raven black and his face altered until no hint of Japanese or Russian blood could be found in it. "Oh well, I did my share. Regina's had a good head start."
"What are you talking about?" Margarete demanded. "Where's Yuri?"
"Take a good guess." The man then looked at Keith and said, "By the way, you're of the Earth clan, aren't you? Be prepared to serve your new master."
"What are you talking about?" Keith asked, but it was too late. The man had disappeared.
"Damn it!" Margarete viciously kicked the dirt and yelled, "What the hell is going on?!"
Alice could feel her stomach sinking. If that man had been meant as a decoy, Yuri must then be… "Yuri must already be inside the ruins then," Alice said. "Come on!"
The five of them ran back to the ruins, worried beyond belief. Luckily, Alice was able to force open the first Judgement Ring door, since she'd seen Roger do the same, and she and the others went inside.
"Slow down," Zhuzhen said, knowing the need to be cautious. "We might get attacked."
"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Halley said, pointing. The others followed the direction to an Inverse that was sleeping upside down, along with a few relaxed Guinea Pigs.
"They're all sleeping," Margarete said in amazement. She scanned the room and found more monsters that were also doing the same, which was strange. The scent of a human was usually enough to wake up any monster. Here were five, and they didn't even stir.
"Come on," Alice said, leading them down one of the two paths. She didn't care about the monsters, Yuri could be in big trouble. She could sense Yuri down there, his fusion souls--and an awful lot of magic. Fire class, and light. Could he be in a fight?
They ran down the path, taking advantage of the monsters' lethargy to run as fast as they could possibly. Finally, they reached the resting place and the circle that marked it.
It was an odd sight. Yuri's shirt and coat lay discarded, off to the side. Lilia, who only Halley recognized, also stood by. But he didn't notice her, too intent on what was going on within the circle.
Yuri floated in the center of the circle, with the Flare Brooch floating higher above him, over his chest. Behind him stood--was it a white-haired man, or a red-headed woman? It was impossible to tell; the figure seemed to be both at once from this distance.
The circle itself glowed with a red light. All of the symbols on the Flare Brooch likewise were red. But Yuri was the oddest case of all. His whole body seemed to glow black, but there were also white symbols along his skin that were fading. It just didn't make any sense.
In Alice's mind, there seemed to be a sudden click. She knew who this woman was. The woman Yuri had met at least twice in his dreams. She was…evil…full of hatred and vengeance…vengeance against…her.
She had to stop whatever that woman was doing. She ran forward, full of determination, but was stopped at the circumference of the circle by flame, an entire wall leaping up at her. The heat forced her back.
"What are you doing with Yuri?" she screamed, trying to get the woman to pay attention to her, and not whatever chant that was. The symbols on Yuri, the light wrapped around the Flare Brooch--both were fading. Both were a bad sign. The fire and darkness were becoming stronger. It wasn't good.
What isn't good? she asked silently.
And then it was over. The fire overpowered the light, and the symbols along Yuri faded so that he was pure darkness.
That's not good…
Then, to her and everyone's utmost horror, the Flare Brooch suddenly rocketed down at Yuri, throwing him down to the ground like a rag doll. Alice's breath stopped. The Flare Brooch glowed inside of the hole it had made in his chest, along with his still beating heart.
"Yuri! Yuri!" Tears were streaking down her cheeks as she screamed his name.
She's killed him…He's going to die…Please God, no… Alice barely noticed as Regina, Syth and Persephone disappeared and the circle turned blue again, allowing her to kneel over Yuri. His eyes looked glassy, blank. No, he can't be… She lowered her head so her ear was over his mouth. He was breathing still. Thank you God…
She had to heal him. First step, getting rid of what had injured him. Alice looked at the Flare Brooch in his chest, and the blood, and she did the hardest thing she'd ever done. She tried to pull it out.
Instantly, she snatched her hand back, like it'd been burned. In reality it had, and the others were now telling her to stop so they could look at it, but she wasn't hearing them. She was seeing the Flare Brooch, at first dull, start glowing with light, red light that beat rhythmically, changing slowly until it matched the beat with the throb of Yuri's heart. Then, the tissue, the bone, the skin--it began healing, the Flare Brooch disappearing underneath it.
To the others, this was a good thing, but Alice went insane at it, trying to grab the Flare Brooch still as it disappeared, burning both of her hands. Even after it was totally gone, she continued clawing at his chest, forcing Halley and Keith to drag her away from Yuri. "You can't do this to him! Leave him alone! Leave him alone!" she shrieked, and then finally, blissfully for her, everything turned into a soothing black.