Disclaimer: No. Don't own Shadow Hearts. Do own Nis now (or did I name her Dis? Oops…)
**
Reviewers:
Aenea: (For when she reads this chapter ::sweatdrop::) Actually, my sister owns it, so I don't really own even a copy of Shadow Hearts. And my friend still has it, although she actually started playing it! Then she was making fun of all the sweatdrops and exclamation marks over people's heads. Um…thank you for adding to the total.
Milia: Glad you liked it.
Delka: Ooh, very poor Yuri in this chapter.
Yuri: What are you doing to me this time?
Can't tell…and there's a bit more of Pers in this chapter.
PoopooPlaTTer: Not half! One-fifth of it was for reviewers!! ::sweatdrop:: well, okay, so that's still a lot of the chapter…but still!Gutterfiend: Yep.
Nights Mistress: Oops. This chapter doesn't really feature Regina, so…but there is more told in this chapter. As soon as I thought of a cat o' nine tails, I realized that had to be Regina's weapon. It suits her.
Greyfriars: Actually, I don't really like Freud either, but you got to admit it's a kind of fascinating theory.
Yuri: Only to you…
AND! You find out his 'purpose in living' in this chapter.
My name? Aegis or ariescelestial? Neither have anything to do with Shadow Hearts (take that Bacon). Ariescelestial was basically ripping off of a friend who used the name virgocelestial, and then simply using my sign instead. Aegis was a character name (it's an English word, too) that got recycled into my review name. Before you ask, Aegis (the character) was not a Mary-Sue. That would be kind of hard since, well…the original Aegis was male. But then I realized Aegis was a pretty asexual name, so I used it for myself as well. What's a monad hieroglyph?
::smiles:: I'm happy! You guys are such great reviewers!
Tiger5913: Is Regina going to hit on Yuri? Let's ask Regina…
Regina: Is NC-17 allowed?
…Nope.
Regina: Dammit! How about hinting at NC-17?
Hmm…
Yuri: Aegis, don't you even think about it.
We'll talk later, Regina.
Regina: Okay, I'll go then. By the way, Alice challenged me to a match. Then it turned into best of three, then best of five. Right now it's best of nine.
Alice: Come on! Best out of eleven!
Yuri: ::sweatdrop:: Um, Alice, c'mon, don't you think you've had enough?
Regina: Personally, I'm loving every moment of this. ::Gets her cat o' nine tails::
**
Author's Note: This is your last warning! You might be offended towards the end of the chapter!!!
Yuri: Uh, Aegis, chill out.
I can't I can't I can't. It's the crappiest chapter ever. It's horrible. Oh yes. Most horrible characterization ever of Margarete! Flame as much as you want about her! I can't figure out her character…this is going to be the most pathetic Margarete/Keith ever written…Keith might seem OOC, but it's justified later…at least I hope it will be…
Yuri: C'mon, Aegis, calm down.
I can't!!!
Yuri: ::sigh:: she's been like this ever since she got past the first scene. Sorry people, she's just in a bad writing mood today. She thinks she forced the Keith/Margarete too much…it will be explained more in the next chapter…but if people respond negatively, she'll eliminate that pairing. Regina, can you baby-sit her now?
Regina: Sure! Please, read and flame!
I don't feel so well now…
**
"Oh heellllarrrrgh."
"What?" Margarete asked, turning in time to see Yuri throw up. Luckily, he threw up over the railing, but it was still gross. "Kiddo, we're on a better boat this time. It's not rocking that much."
Yuri glared at her. "It's not that, it's that lunch—oh damaugh," and there went a bit of ham and cheese.
"Look, I told you the food looked suspicious. And did you listen to me? Nooo."
"Stop rubbing it in," he said, resting his head on his arms. He still felt sick, but at least now it felt like his stomach was empty, and the breeze was a little calming. Besides, he could already see where they'd be landing. Just five more minutes and they'd be off the stupid idiotic boat. "I was hungry."
"Ugh, men and their stomachs. Listen to your brain more and you wouldn't be throwing up right now."
"Would you stop rubbing it in?" Yuri complained. He wanted to be on a train again. At least they didn't sway back and forth like a boat did. Just a few more minutes… "Hey, Margarete…"
"What?"
"Do you think there's, like…" Yuri gestured aimlessly at the ocean, like he had dropped his train of thought over the rail—Probably did, Margarete thought to herself. "Do you think there's a purpose to life? Like a destiny?"
Margarete stared at his back. Where on earth did this come from? She thought. "What do you mean? You didn't read a stupid fortune cookie, did you?"
Yuri sighed. He had felt like talking to someone about it, but didn't know what there was to talk about. He couldn't even figure out what Koudelka meant. "No. And get off the food subject or I'll have to throw up on you."
"Don't you dare."
There was a lull in the conversation.
"So are you going to answer the question?" Yuri asked. He looked down at the water around the boat and wondered briefly if ham would float or sink.
"No."
"Why not?"
"My answer is no. I don't think there's any such stupid thing as destiny. After all, don't we have the choice to make our own decisions?"
"But what if we have something we're supposed to go do? We can choose, but we're supposed to do it."
"Then, if you want to do it, do it. If not, tell whoever's telling you to do it to leave you alone."
"But I don't know who's telling me to do it," he complained.
"Who's telling you to do what?"
"I don't know!" At this point Yuri got frustrated and began banging his head against the railing, chanting something like whymewhymewhyme in his head.
"Yuri, what size straitjacket are you? They're going to want to know at Calios."
"Shut up shut up shut-"
At this moment, a rather funny thing happened, namely the boat suddenly jerked and almost sent Yuri overboard. Yuri could suddenly feel the boat move from beneath his feet, the metal railing hitting against him, and Margarete's hand grabbing his trench coat to keep him from going forward any more.
"We must have docked," the spy noted.
I hate boats.
Yuri quickly stood up and turned against the railing. "God, what's with these boats! All this jerking and rolling and…what?"
Margarete was looking at him expectantly. "You're welcome, Yuri."
Huh?
"You're welcome…"
"I'm supposed to say thank you?"
She threw up her hands. "You're great with gratitude, kiddo. You would've gone overboard if I didn't catch you."
"No…I would've just gotten hit with the rail," he said. "It's too high for me to go over."
"You would've gone over."
"No…"
"Yes…"
"Okay, even if I had gone over, big deal," Yuri said. "Look, I land in the water, fuse into Egil, and swim! Big deal! I get a little wet."
"Can you swim?" He shook his head. "Okay, kiddo, if you don't know how to swim, it doesn't matter what you turn into, you're gonna drown."
"He's a water class. A little water isn't going to hurt him, he uses that in magic."
"A little? Kid, I'm a water class and I've almost drowned once."
"No offense, but your magic sucks."
Margarete turned a shade red. "My magic? My magic sucks? This from the guy who has to turn into some ugly monster just to use magic?"
"You can't do a single spell!"
Margarete scowled, and then suddenly grinned. "I'm going to show you a little trick I made." She put her right hand up in front of his face, index finger pointing at him like her hand was a gun. Yuri had the sense to start backing away, but that was when water shot out at him from her finger, spraying him in the face.
"Margarete!"
"C'mon kid, say thank you!"
"Like I'm going to say it now!"
"Alright then, but you're going to be awfully wet soon!"
"Get back here!"
**
Squish squish
His shoes squeaked as Yuri walked over to Alice and the others. Margarete, who had found them sooner, waved gaily at him and then doubled over laughing. For all his efforts to catch her, he'd been hit with water constantly and was now totally wet.
Squish squish
"What happened?" Alice asked. "You look like you fell overboard."
Yuri turned a very dark look on for the benefit of Margarete, but she was still laughing and not taking him at all seriously.
In fact, she said, "I told you you'd get wet!" and started laughing even harder.
"It's her fault," he growled.
Zhuzhen looked him over from head to toe—and he was dripping wet all over—and shook his head. "Hopefully you'll dry out on the way to the train station."
With a heavy scowl, Yuri began walking to the train station, the others trying not to join Margarete in her laughter as they followed him.
Squish squish
I hate boats.
**
Once Yuri had gotten his luggage settled, he went after Halley. He was still thinking about Koudelka's last words, and he wanted to figure out what she'd meant. Halley might know.
He stepped into Halley's compartment. Halley was also settled in and lying on his bed. "Hey." Halley sat up. "Isn't this kind of neat? It's been a great reunion in a way. I like this, traveling with everyone again."
"Yeah, I guess," Yuri said uncertainly.
Halley looked curiously at him. "Something wrong?" He grinned and added, "Besides getting all wet."
Yuri chose to charitably ignore that last jab at his dignity. Besides, that wasn't what he was interested in. "Your mom said something to me, when I was getting on the train in London," Yuri answered. "She said, 'Everything will be alright, as long as you remember your purpose in living'."
"She did?"
"Yeah. But the problem is I have no clue what she was talking about. I don't know what my purpose in life is."
"Hm…" Halley looked up at the ceiling as he thought about this. Below him, the train was rattling along the track, slowly taking them to Prague. Prague was the largest town in the area, as well as having the closest train station to Bistritz. "Well, it sounds like she expected you to know what she was talking about. Maybe she'd told you earlier?"
Yuri looked at the bed for a few minutes, trying to figure out if she'd ever mentioned it before. The phrase did sound a little familiar, but… "I don't remember."
"Well, try to think of when it was. Was it after we rescued her?"
Yuri shook his head. "No…I think she told me through telepathy. I don't know why though…"
Purpose for living…
Surprised, Yuri looked at Halley. "What'd you do that for?"
Halley shrugged. "Wanted to see if it'd help you remember."
"You're not the same as your mom. She sets off all my fusion souls when she does that. You…" Yuri shook his head. "I don't know why, but they don't get upset because of you. I remember, Koudelka kept giving me migraines when I first met Alice—" The Harmonixer stopped mid-sentence as he realized something. "That's when she told me!"
"See? Told you."
"Alice had run off…and I started chasing after her, but then your mom started telling me…" Yuri tried to remember what exactly she had been saying. "Something about…Darkness and Light being reunited…and then she said 'Protect', I couldn't make out the words for a while. 'Protect…and find your purpose in living'."
"Darkness and Light reunited? Had you and Alice met before?"
Yuri shook his head. "We couldn't have. I'd never been in Europe before, and I'm sure that was her first time in China."
"Well, she told you to protect Alice before, right? So she must have been saying to protect Alice and find your purpose in living. Your purpose is to protect Alice." Halley looked very confused himself. "At least that's what I think she meant…" He shrugged. "Sounds pretty good to me. I mean, that's what you'd want to do anyways. But…why would mom mention that now? It sounds like you need a lot more protection than Alice does."
At the same time he said that, he noticed Yuri flinch slightly and then look down. His eyes widened and he sat forward. "Yuri, Alice isn't in any danger, is she?"
"Well…" The Harmonixer raised his eyes again and said, "It just seems like Regina's jealous of her. I don't know what she'd do to Alice, but I don't think it'd be good."
Halley shook his head. "So? Mom said everything would be okay if you protect Alice. I don't think she'd say something like that if she wasn't sure we could take care of ourselves."
"But…" Yuri sighed and then stood up. "Thanks Halley. I'm going to go see what the others are up to."
Halley frowned and lay back down on his bed after Yuri had left. What was Yuri so worried about? He wasn't the kind of person to worry over nothing. He was usually pretty boastful, in fact. There had to be something wrong. But…what was it?
And why wouldn't Yuri just say what it was?
**
"Hmph. I wish there was a train station in Bistritz," Margarete said. "Then we'd get to Blue Castle much faster."
"And remember, we have to walk from Prague to Bistritz," Zhuzhen said.
Margarete stared at him with an expression of exasperation. "We have to walk again?"
"Yes, again."
"There has to be a carriage."
Alice shook her head. "There isn't. And besides, it's only two days."
Margarete sighed. "This is so unglamorous…"
Zhuzhen rolled his eyes while Keith sighed as well. Ms. Spy Genius could be quite a handful when she wanted to be.
"Hey Yuri! Where—" Margarete suddenly stopped. "Kiddo, you look depressed," she said. Yuri had entered the car, looking down towards the floor instead of up at everyone. He flopped down in the nearest seat.
"I'm tired. There's a difference."
"It's only four o'clock!" Margarete shook her head. "And you shouldn't have gotten that tired from chasing me." On the boat, he had been chasing her around as she kept baiting him with blasts of water. "What were you doing last night?"
Last night, Yuri had been unable to sleep at all after the nightmare. Instead, he had gone off on a walk around London, returning at around four or five in the morning. "I was just walking around."
"You weren't 'cleaning up the streets' again, were you?"
"Wait, what?" Margarete said, looking at Alice.
For the first time today, Yuri had a very genuine smile. Or smirk. You had to feel sorry for those criminals. "Two pickpockets. One mugger. Then a whole gang of them when his buddies were 'getting revenge'. All in all, I think it was twelve, total."
"You were beating people up?" Keith asked.
"Self-defense. They attacked me first."
Alice shook her head. "More like you were looking for a fight, and they obliged."
The conversation was getting quite interesting now, and Yuri found himself being distrasted as he put on a fake pout for Alice's benefit. "Come on. It helps the police out."
"You weren't scaring people with your fusions souls, please? At least tell me you didn't do that."
"Um…Death Emperor made a few special appearances," Yuri said.
Alice sighed and put her forehead in her hand, as though she had a headache. "Yuri Hyuga, you are really just too much trouble sometimes." Although it didn't sound as stern as it was meant to be, because of her smile and light laugh. "I suppose those people will be saints from now on."
Zhuzhen couldn't help but chuckle. Everyone was a little amused by the thought of some poor pickpocket being scared half to death by the personification of it. "You're just a street thug, aren't you?"
"Hey! I resent that."
Everyone laughed at Yuri's protest and Halley came out, curious. "What are you guys laughing about?"
"Yuri's been playing cop at nighttime," Margarete told him.
"What?"
"Last night he was fighting the thieves in London," Keith explained.
"Oh." Halley nodded. It made sense. "That's why you were so tired."
"Oh geez," Yuri complained. "What is it? Do I have red eyes or something?" He began rubbing at his eyes.
"No," Halley said, "You just seemed tired in the morning. And now."
"Ugh."
"Why didn't you go to sleep?" Alice asked.
Yuri shrugged, his eyes closed. "Insomnia, I guess." He shouldn't have let a stupid dream bother him so much. Last night it had seemed so real, and his fusion souls…but he had to have just imagined that. They were just the souls of monsters. Nothing…
"Kiddo, I got us all compartments so we could sleep in them. If you're so tired, go take a nap," Margarete said. Yuri opened his eyes a crack to look at her. She looked rather amused. Then again, she usually did. "Come on, you can get up."
With a yawn, Yuri got out of his seat and moved along to his compartment, the one in the middle on the left. He yanked open the door and then slammed it shut, collapsing on the bed. He buried his face in the pillow and tried to get to sleep.
**
"Boy, he was pretty tired," Margarete said. "He must not have gotten any sleep."
"I was surprised you could get our compartments all together like this," Keith commented. Their compartments were arranged together, three on one side and three on the left.
Margarete shrugged. "Prague's not exactly the most popular place. There's not that many passengers on here. It wasn't any trouble getting these together."
"Got any cards on you?" Zhuzhen asked. He was getting a little bored, and they usually passed the time in trains or carriages playing card games.
Margarete smiled and got out her deck. "What game?"
**
[Yuri's POV]
I stepped inside of the Graveyard, but I was puzzled. Why had I come here? There was no Regina, and I couldn't think of any other reason why I would have come here.
As I looked around, I saw the glow of the symbols. All of the graves were brightly glowing. No…the grave of Darkness wasn't, or Atman's. But those of Earth, Fire, Air, Light, and Water were.
What did it mean? There was no one around, nobody to trigger the symbols. So…maybe there were new fusion souls. Was that possible?
I started walking closer to the first group, of Earth and Fire and Water. There was something odd about the Graveyard, something…I tried to shake off the feeling of unease and approached the first grave, that of Earth. Cautiously I touched the symbol—and felt a strong grip on my boot.
Looking down, I saw to my shock that a hand had grabbed my foot. A human hand that stuck out of the ground. I kicked at the hand and got out of its reach, backing away from the graves. At the graves of Fire and Water, I could also see hands, sticking out of the ground and starting to claw at the rest of it. Slowly, figures started to raise themselves from the graves.
"What…what the hell?" I said shakily. It couldn't be. It couldn't be them. "Keith? Margarete? What's going on?"
I could clearly recognize both of them, but they looked different. Keith was covered in blood, wounds from various kinds of weapons all over his body, many in his chest and stomach. Nobody could have taken so many wounds and possibly survived. Margarete…from our experience with Li Li, I could tell…Margarete had drowned.
"You claimed you were human…"
"…But really, you're just a soulless beast," Margarete said, finishing Keith's statement.
I shook my head in disbelief. "What…"
"So many horrible things," said a third corpse, standing in front of the Fire grave. It was burnt beyond recognition, but the voice…the voice was Zhuzhen's…
"What are you guys talking about? What happened to you?"
"Don't play dumb," Zhuzhen said bitterly. His voice was full of anger.
I began backing away from them. They followed me slowly, deliberately, with exaggerated movements and limp limbs. No way…they couldn't be dead…but then…why were they here…? Why were they…?
I moved down along the path, towards the other graves. There also were arms, dragging their owners out of the graves. I felt a sense of dread. If Keith, Margarete, and Zhuzhen were at the graves of Earth, Water, and Fire, then the people buried under the Light and Air had to be…no…
Halley gazed at me with a fearful gaze. "How could you?" he asked plaintively. How could he even speak? His neck was broken, his head hanging at an odd angle. He and his companion joined the others surrounding me, continuing to cage me in.
"You…murderer…" Alice spoke softly. She gazed at me with one vacant blue eye. The other eye was ruined; it had been smashed in. The claws of an animal showed their marks all over her.
Murderer? Why was she calling me a murderer? I shook my head. I couldn't have done this to them. I would never do this. "I didn't…how did you guys…?"
"It's all your fault," Margarete said. She took another step forward and I moved back.
"Margarete…"
"She's right," Alice said, with a calm and steady gaze that unnerved me. She didn't seem to even notice the missing eye.
"Alice, why? What happened to you?" I asked desperately.
She embraced me. The smell of rotting flesh grew stronger, and drops of blood landed on my shoulder. "You did. I thought you loved me, but really…"
She suddenly stepped back, and then roughly shoved me. Taken by surprise, I stepped back—and found myself falling, my foot having landed on nothing but air. Above me, I could see the symbol of Darkness begin to glow. I was falling into the grave.
"…I suppose your heart belonged to her."
**
Yuri jerked awake. He quickly stood up and went to the door. Then he paused. Everything would be fine. They were all outside, talking to each other. It had only been a few minutes. Nothing could have happened. Having reassured himself, he opened the door and looked outside.
There was no one. The others were gone. No, they couldn't be. It had been such a short time. It'd been only five minutes. He had just fallen asleep. Where had they all gone?
They're dead…
It had been just a few minutes…what could have happened?
You could have killed them all…
Killer…murderer…monster…
"Shut up," he said, putting his hands up to his head. "Shut up," he told his fusion souls. "You're the monsters. Not me."
Where are your friends?
Look under the gravestones…
"No," he said. "No. They're not dead." They must have just gone into a different car. Where would all of them go?
The dining car.
Yuri started marching through the train, determined to prove the fusion souls wrong. But as he went through the cars, they continued to taunt him.
What an awful trick…
You pretend to be their friend, and then you kill them…
"No!" he yelled. His pace became faster, and he was starting to attract stares from the other passengers. He didn't care. He just had to get to the dining car…he had to find them…
Guilt…you know, don't you…?
They're dead…
No. He'd never. He wouldn't. Never never never…
But you did…
He reached the dining car and burst in. His heart suddenly sank. The conversation and laughter of the few people in the dining room sounded like nothing more than a distant buzz in his ears, nothing compared to what the fusion souls were saying now. They weren't here. He couldn't see them.
They weren't here. They were…
His eyes looked distant and lost. His friends weren't here. Alice wasn't here. What…what had he done…?
The buzzing was getting louder and louder. The fusion souls were laughing, screeching.
"…Yuri? Hey, Yuri!"
Suddenly the Harmonixer realized he was being called and looked to his left. He felt a rush of relief as he saw all five of his companions sitting at a table near a corner of the car. "Come on over, here's a seat!" Alice said, motioning to an empty chair next to her.
Silently, he took the chair and sat down, slowly realizing that, like last night, it had only been a dream. Alice smiled at him. "Did you have a good nap? You slept for quite a while. It's been almost four hours!"
Four…then it was around eight…he'd slept for four hours and had thought…Yuri laughed suddenly and covered his eyes. It was just a nightmare, just some screwed up dream Regina had given him to scare him. And yet…then why were his fusion souls agreeing with it?
Maybe Persephone was manipulating them? But then she'd have to be nearby, and either Zhuzhen or Alice would have been sure to sense her by now.
Maybe they just wanted to screw with his head too…
"I don't think so," Zhuzhen said in response to Alice. "You look pale, kid."
"I just had a nightmare."
"Oh, so that's why you came storming in here." Margarete rolled her eyes. "I can tell you would make a great spy, subtle and discreet."
Yuri glared at her. "I don't want to be a terrorist, thank you very much."
She glared back at him. They became very involved in a glaring contest. Then Yuri's stomach growled loudly.
"Uh…hungry?" Alice asked, looking at a startled Yuri.
"Yeah." He hadn't eaten since lunch, which, if he remembered correctly, had gone overboard on the ferry.
"Well, let's get some food."
**
The next morning, the train finally arrived at Prague. Although Margarete wanted to stop and rest for a while, everyone else wanted to just hurry up and get to Blue Castle.
"In fact, we could cut two hours off if we just go directly to Blue Castle and skip Bistritz," Halley said, looking at the map.
"Only if we go to Bistritz afterwards," Keith countered. He wanted to see Nina and Michelle again, and see how they were doing. It had been a while. Halley shrugged. It was fine with him, and the others soon agreed. That would take only a few hours, maybe five. And, they might need more supplies by then, which they could get while they were at Michelle's item shop.
After they had decided on their course, they immediately set off. Yuri usually stayed in front of the others, but this time he let Keith lead and fell back so he could talk to Zhuzhen.
"Hey Zhuzhen?"
"Hmm?" The Adept walked using his staff; he didn't really need it, but found it to be something of a relief on long marches like this.
"I was wondering if you could teach me how to read auras."
Zhuzhen looked at Yuri in surprise. "You want to learn that?"
"Um…yes?" Yuri was kind of puzzled about why Zhuzhen would ask. Zhuzhen, for his part, was surprised that Yuri was interested. Yuri tended to have a more 'I haven't needed it before, so I'm not going to need it later' attitude when it came to learning new skills. Then again, Yuri probably really wasn't that serious. Zhuzhen was willing to bet that he could lecture Yuri the whole day on how to read auras, and by nightfall he would not even be able to tell the difference between a Dark class and a Light class.
**
At dinnertime, Yuri proved to Zhuzhen that it was wise not to bet. "There's Alice," he said, pointing to where she was. "And there's Halley." He turned and pointed, exactly where he was. "And the weak one's Margarete." His finger turned to her.
"I am not weak!" Margarete yelled. Yuri grinned. Now that she had yelled, he knew he was right on one at least. To test Yuri, Zhuzhen had put a blindfold* on him and then told the others to scatter themselves around the area. They had to be quiet as they walked, so Yuri wouldn't be tipped off as to what direction they were headed in, and they had to be within forty to sixty feet of him, to test his range.
"There's Keith, and you're standing next to him." Yuri paused after pointing to both. "Well, how many did I get?"
"Five out of five," Zhuzhen called. "You can take the blindfold off."
Yuri untied the blindfold, a smirk on his face as he saw that everyone was in the spot that he had thought. It was better than he'd been at lunch. At lunch he could only tell that there was a person in a general area. "You're not a bad teacher, old man."
Zhuzhen was rather impressed, more with the fact that Yuri had obviously been paying attention than that he could tell where people were. "Don't get cocky, kid. First of all, I doubt your skill will be good enough for a battle. Second of all, it was easy for you to tell where we were because you've known us for some time, and you already know what our classes are. You'd have a hard time telling the class of a complete stranger. Third of all, you need to practice more."
"Do I get a 'congratulations'?" Yuri asked with heavy sarcasm.
"Nope."
"I take back what I said about you not being a bad teacher."
The Adept shook his head. "Yuri, with your practice with fusion, and your exposure to magic, I'm surprised you didn't learn it before."
"I've never needed it before."
I knew he was going to say that eventually, Zhuzhen thought. Still, at least he had bothered to learn sometime. Better late than never.
"That was great, Yuri!" Alice said, always encouraging.
Margarete looked thoughtful, then turned to Zhuzhen. "You think you could teach me too?"
**
She awoke, slowly. She found herself lying under a man. Slowly she crawled out from beneath him, aware of how difficult her small limbs made it. She shuddered as she looked down on his horrified face, and the similar expressions on the people lying around her.
What had happened? What had she done?
The last thing she remembered was the mean people taking her away from her mother, ripping away the only person who loved her. Her mother…
Where was her mother…?
"Mother?" It came out as a shaky whisper. She stepped over the man, looking around for her mother. They had taken her away…she remembered her mother crying out…and then…what had happened…? Everything else was darkness…
She saw the bodies only as objects. She didn't want to understand, didn't want to comprehend what had happened. As long as she found mother everything would be okay…
As long as she found her…
Then, finally, wandering along those streets of hell, she found her mother. She was sleeping among the others. Her daughter was old enough to know what had really happened, but she refused to accept it. There was a chance…wasn't there a chance? Maybe she was just injured, not…
She kneeled down next to her mother… "Mom, wake up."
There was no movement.
"Mom, please…" She shook her gently, and then looked at her crimson hands in stunned surprise. There was so much blood…all her mother's blood…no…she pressed her hands against her face as she sobbed, staining her own face, and then tried again to wake up her mother, hoping against hope that she was alive. She remembered the babbled promises, promises that she would always be good from now on, she'd never cause any trouble again, if only her mother would wake up wake up please…
Suddenly, she was aware that there was someone else amid all the carnage, watching her. She stood and turned and—
**
Persephone sat up in bed, gasping for breath. That dream…why had she had that dream again? It had stopped so long ago, and now it was starting again. She hated that dream.
What did the dream mean? It was her mother, but…her mother had died of an illness, not…she shook her head, trying to clear away the cobwebs. It was impossible.
Why now?
Suddenly she became aware of a thread, one of light. One that connected her and—she didn't think she'd summon a light class monster in a while, so how could she still be connected to it? Puzzled, she began to trace it, to its roots. She was startled when it led to a little girl. Startled and horrified.
It was the same girl from the park. They must have gotten connected earlier when they'd met—but how? And why hadn't she noticed it earlier?
At the same time as she wondered this, the girl's mind seemed to notice the link as well. No. Persephone would not allow this. She cut the connection, but not before the girl told her, I can't summon anymore.
What had she meant? A person didn't just lose the ability to summon. And then Persephone realized from the fear and guilt in her voice that the girl was too afraid of herself, too afraid of her ability now, to possibly use her talent again. The guilt was dredged up again, and Persephone began to wish she could reach out to the girl for one brief second and tell her it was not her fault, all was to be blamed on her.
But the connection was severed, and there was no way to communicate now. Anyway, she reminded herself, she's just a mortal. I shouldn't be concerned for her.
Surprisingly, it didn't make her feel any better. And it didn't help her get back to sleep.
**
"Hi Keith," Margarete said. Quietly she crawled out of the tent she shared with Alice and came up to him.
"Bon soir, Margarete," Keith said absently. "It's not your shift tonight."
She shrugged. "I couldn't sleep." Well, it was half-true. She had suddenly woken up, but she was sure if she'd tried, she could have easily gone back to sleep. But when she realized it was still Keith's shift, she had decided maybe it was time she had a talk with him. This was a good of a time as any. There wasn't much of a chance of interruption. "Having fun with sentry duty?"
"Of course." There was an ironic smile on Keith's face.
"It's boring, isn't it?"
Keith shrugged. "It has to be done."
"Still boring as hell," she observed. "Say, Keith…"
"Yes?"
"We've never gotten to know each other well, have we?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you met Alice and Yuri and Zhuzhen a whole month before you met me."
"I met Halley after I met you," the vampire pointed out logically.
"Well yeah," Margarete allowed, "but what I mean is…I'd like to get to know you better. Maybe one night, we could ditch the others and go on a nice, friendly date. I know I'm in the mood for a night on the town. And you've been sleeping for two centuries! When was the last time you went on a date?"
"…It's been a long time." His tone had changed, and he looked off into the night, as though remembering something. Margarete wondered if he was upset or not, or what he was thinking…but then she decided she shouldn't get analytical. Or anal, as she liked to call it, especially when her superior was chewing her out.
She grinned. "Exactly! And it's not a romantic date or anything." Well, actually, she had hoped it could be. But it seemed that with Keith, just a date would have to do. Besides, it always could become romantic later… "It just doesn't ever seem like we could have a serious talk with the others, what with Halley and Yuri always goofing off. You know how teenagers are, and I think Yuri's stuck there permanently…" Margarete looked at Keith to see if he was paying attention. He wasn't looking at her, but his facial expression showed he was listening. "So, what do you say?"
She was confident he would say yes, for two reasons. First of all, she was sure that there was something between them, and not just friendship. And second, Keith was just a gentleman. He didn't seem the kind to refuse. Besides, she'd tried to take the pressure off by saying it'd be a friendly date—though of course, the pleasant possibility that it could be more was always there.
That's what Margarete thought. So when Keith looked at her and said, "I'm not at all interested," she was surprised.
It wasn't as much as what he said—okay, it did pretty much shatter her ego—but the way he said it ground the shards into the ground. She'd never hear him talk so coldly.
She simply stood there, frozen, until he finally said, "Shouldn't you go back to sleep now?" As if she'd been wasting his time.
Margarete muttered a little 'oh' of embarrassment that hardly expressed how she felt—ashamed, confused, and hurt. As she crawled back into the tent, she looked at Alice, peacefully sleeping, and felt a stab of jealousy. By the time she went to sleep though, she had managed to convince herself that she couldn't care less about the vampire. He could go screw himself.
**
The following day was not nearly as pleasant as the first had been. Zhuzhen was continuing to attempt to instruct Yuri, but Yuri was now distracted by—whatever the hell was going on with Margarete and Keith. Margarete had pointedly ignored him throughout breakfast, while Keith was trying to act like everything was normal, which it obviously wasn't. Yuri remembered that Keith had seemed a little upset when he'd woken him up for his shift, so something must have happened. A fight, obviously. But they always got into arguments, and they were always over it in at most fifteen minutes.
"Are you paying attention?" Zhuzhen asked for the third time.
"Huh?"
Zhuzhen shook his head. "Forget it." That was the end of the lessons.
It wasn't just Yuri who had noticed. Alice and Halley also looked concerned, although Halley was getting more and more annoyed with their behavior. They were acting like Sharon and Joshua might after Joshua broke one of Sharon's toys—Sharon would ignore Joshua while Joshua tried to make up for his mistake without actually admitting he had made one. Realizing that the adults' behavior was comparable to the children's was never exactly reassuring.
I hope we just get there quickly…
They did get there sooner then expected, probably because of the lack of talking. Keith breathed an audible sigh of relief as he entered the castle.
"All right…hey, Keith?"
"Yes?"
"I just realized something. There's only eight other coffins," Yuri said. "Are they the only members of the clan?"
Keith nodded. "There are only nine of us…and…we'll be waking them up. But please don't disturb Maria's coffin."
"Why not?"
"Just don't. She went to sleep two hundred years ago…she will wake when she chooses to."
"Hey…Didn't you go to sleep around the same time?"
There was a wan smile on Keith's lips. "Yes. I did." He stole a glance at Margarete, but she was fully involved in a conversation with Zhuzhen. Then he shook his head ruefully. "Let's go."
**
One by one, the other vampires were woken up. Maria's coffin was left alone, as Keith had asked, and some of the other vampires glanced at it, but nothing was said about it.
"I'm glad to see you have Tyrving back," Stephen said first. He was rather like his son, but he had brown hair instead of blond and looked sterner. It was bizarre though, because he looked like he wasn't any older than Keith was.
Keith looked down at the sword and replied, "Yes. I do."
"And who are these people?" he asked, casting his eyes about the motley group.
"My companions. Halley, Zhuzhen, Alice, Yuri, and Margarete."
"I see…now, why did you wake all of us up?" Stephen asked. "I assume this must be something important." His tone made it clear that it had better be.
"Father, you've taught me about the other clans, but I still don't know very much. Even about our own clan. And one of my companions…in fact, all of us have recently come into contact with one of the rulers," he said. Perhaps it would not be best to single Yuri out. Besides, it was true that they had all met her, in the ruins.
All of the vampires seemed to become more interested now. There had been some small chat as people tried to figure out how many years they'd been sleeping by looking around the castle and at Keith's companions, but now they were all looking at Keith. "One of its rulers? Are you sure? Which one?"
Keith was bombarded with the questions from all sides. "Yes, we are sure it is one of them. To be specific, we are sure it is Regina."
And this hushed the questions. Keith's father seemed upset. "You are sure." His son nodded. "What have you been doing that she is now interested in you?"
"Father, it is one of my companions that she is interested in. And on his part, this has been absolutely unexpected."
"So you want to know more about Regina?"
Keith nodded.
"Hm. As you already know, Regina is the ruler of the Fire clan." His father looked at Keith and said, "You know, how about you just ask me what you need to know? It would be a lot quicker."
"Yes…why is she imprisoned?"
"She was imprisoned by a Light class during the war between the clans. The clans have often fought before, but that war was the worst. It was called the Elemental War."
"Elemental War?" Alice echoed.
"It was called that because in previous wars, the Elemental clans—fire, water, earth, and wind—had always been on the Darkness clan's side. But in this war, clans were free to fight for any side they chose." Stephen was silent for a moment. "Our clan was so badly divided about which side we would fight for—so many of our people died fighting each other that eventually we decided that we could not take part on either's side. We decided to be neutral, and came here, to this castle. Although some insisted on staying to fight the war."
"Why did they always help the Darkness clan?" Margarete asked, finally getting curious.
"The Darkness clan once ruled over the elemental clans."
"But why?"
"It used to be that there were no clans, no classes. If you were to classify a person by our standards, they would be a Light class. All were ruled by God."
"The one we destroyed?" Zhuzhen asked.
Stephen had a curious smile. "There is only one. You could not have destroyed him."
"Regina said the same thing," Yuri said, startled. Stephen looked at him and his eyes narrowed.
"So…you are the one Regina wants?" Stephen shook his head. "I should warn you, she usually gets what she wants."
"Yeah, well, she'll find it a little hard to get to me. Now what about this story of yours?"
"Hmph." Stephen snorted. "The details are of no importance. Simply put, the first ruler of Darkness found a considerable source of power. He then shared it with four others, in which it took the form of each element—but with one condition they were unaware of. If he chose, they would be forced to serve him and his bloodline, through a successor called the Overlord. I think that was the first case of 'selling your soul to the devil'."
"Devil?" Alice asked.
"His name was Lucifer."
"So then, why didn't they serve them in this war?"
"The Overlord could only be a firstborn. For some reason, later children did not have the ability to control those of the elemental clans. In the case of twins, both had the ability, and eventually it came to be that when twins were born the less favorable one was immediately taken and killed to prevent civil war later."
Next to Yuri, Alice shuddered. He had to agree, it seemed pretty ruthless.
"There are other ways for one to become the Overlord, but they were complext rituals, rarely used unless necessary. Eventually, the Overlord came to actually be a woman, a summoner named Nis. She was…not the most mentally stable ruler." Stephen's expression became bitter. "She caused the deaths of many who she called traitors, even though everyone else knew that they were innocent, because of her paranoia. The elemental clans wished to be rid of her, but could do nothing about because they were unable to act against the Overlord, and the Darkness clan kept her because they loved the power over the other clans. Those were the most terrible times." Yuri realized that he must have been alive during then. He wondered who had died that he was so angry. "And then, it finally ended."
"She was killed?"
"She became pregnant. No one knew who the father was or when she had become pregnant, but she was about to give birth to an heir. Everyone hoped that it would be a sane heir." Stephen's face had a crooked smile. "Imagine what they must have thought.
"You see, something went wrong in childbirth, and Nis bled to death from the womb. Her clan hoped to save the heir and save their position, and they tried to rescue the child." Still, there was that disturbing smile on Stephen's face, a smile of bittersweet revenge. "Imagine their horror when they found an infant monster in her womb. Imagine their shock when they saw it change back into a normal human baby, crying and screaming."
What? Changed…? He's describing a Harmonixer, Yuri thought. But…he'd never thought something like that could happen…when it was just a baby…?
"They realized that the baby, as a monster, had killed its mother from the inside with its claws. And they realized who the father was. It was actually rather simple by then. She was a summoner. An insane summoner. She had simply summoned a monster and…committed an act of bestiality with it. It might sound impossible for a baby to be born from it, but many strange things have happened as a result of the power in our blood, the power that was stolen from God."
A baby? Born of… How can he simply say it like that, so calmly? Yuri looked around and saw the looks of disgust, the horror. Had they even realized what else it meant?
The child he was describing was a Harmonixer…the ability to fuse was passed through the bloodline…he couldn't be, couldn't have been…
The whispers again. They knew, the fusion souls knew. They were giggling and laughing.
Upset?
Why…you've always been called a monster…a demon…
Why should it hurt that you actually are?
"…That child was later banished. Even the clan of Darkness had decided that he was useless to them…"
Useless…
Do you remember how that used to feel…?
["…But really, you're just a soulless beast…"]
How right she was…it would have been better for everyone had you just been killed the moment you were born…drowned in a river, perhaps…
"As an adult, he started a war to take back what he believed was rightfully his, aided by Regina."
"No…"
Alice looked up, hearing Yuri's whisper. "Yuri? Are you feeling alright?" she said. He didn't look well. He looked at her and she gasped. His eyes had turned darker, to an almost complete black, and they looked frightened. "Yuri…?"
"I didn't…I swear I didn't…" He started backing away from them all, towards the stairs. Again he could see the corpses, hear the accusations…they were all looking at him, with those hateful stares…
Everyone looked at him in concern. What was wrong with him? He was talking gibberish. He looked afraid, but they couldn't see anything. "Kiddo, is this some kind of joke-"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" he yelled, and then he turned and ran out of the room, chased by something only he could see.