Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean. The people who are lucky enough to own rights to them do. Wish I did though. J
Chapter 5Lacour … Four years later
A petite, red head, girl walked into Lacour castle glancing all around as if she were looking for something or someone. She smiled when she saw the blond haired someone she was looking for at the registration desk for the new Tournament of Arms.
"Hey Claude!" She yelled as she walked up to him. "I've been looking all over for you."
"Hello Precis." Claude said as he signed the papers and took his pass for the Tournament. He slid the paper across the desk to the two clerks, which for some reason, they looked very familiar to him. But he couldn't quite place it at all.
' It's just my imagination.' He thought as he shook his head and walked out the castle with Precis. In the back of his mind the thought still nagged at him.
' I'll figure it out later on.' He thought to himself. Claude must have been staring off into space for a while because Precis punched him in his arm.
"What's your problem? Are you even listening to me?" Precis said while she crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him.
Claude rubbed his arm where she punched him. "Sorry about that, I was trying to figure out something about those two clerks at the registration desk. They looked really familiar to me but I can't place who they are or where I have seen or met them." Claude turned toward Precis. "What about you did they seem familiar at all?"
Precis frowned a bit while she thought. "Well, they did seem a bit familiar. But I really didn't see their faces either." She shrugged. "We can ask the others about them to see if they know anything about them."
Claude just nodded his head then they both walked into the hotel they were staying at. If they had went inside a few minutes earlier they would have seen a certain blue-haired swordsman and a couple of shades lighter blue haired girl check into their room and walk disappear around the corner into their room.
- { Room #6 } –
When Claude and Precis walked into the room. Celine was the first one to greet them.
"Claude, darling. Did you finish registering yourself and finding weapons?" She asked.
Claude nodded his head yes. "What about you Celine? Did you find everything you need?"
"Yes I did."
"This is going to be an interesting tournament this year." said Bowman while he was leaning against the wall.
"Yeah, with all the new rules and all." Ernest added while he was lying on the bed.
Noel was sitting on the windowsill with Opera.
"With the new rules mages and fighters can fight as teams." Opera said.
Noel was looking out the window. "I wonder which would be the better team; Mage and Mage, Fighter and Mage, or Fighter and Fighter."
Precis was deep in thought while the conversation was going on. She was snapped out of her reverie when Claude tapped her shoulder and asked her what was wrong.
"Oh, I…" Precis started chewing on her lip. "I was just wondering about something."
"What is it?" Celine asked.
"I was wondering… if they…." Precis didn't have to finish the sentence because everyone knew immediately what, actually who, "they" were and the whole room went silent.
'Rena and Dias.' They all thought at the same time.
--- { Next Day } ---
Claude was in the waiting room with all the other fighters waiting for their turn to fight.
'I wonder if they will show up this time. It's been almost four years. We come here every year in hopes to see them and for me to test my strength and skill against other fighters. I can't do it anymore since the fighters are no challenge at all. Maybe with these new rules…' Claude was jarred out of his thought when someone bumped into him.
"Oh, excuse me." A woman said.
Claude looked up. She had light brown hair that went a little past her shoulders, violet eyes, and was wearing a dark green dress, which showed of her figure, that went all the way to her ankles and some leather boots. The girl with her had shoulder length blond hair, clear blue eyes, and was wearing a white dress tied at the waist with a red sash into a bow, that went down to her ankles also.
Claude smiled. "It's alright."
'Are these two in the tournament also? Mages maybe?'
"I'm Wendy and this is my friend, Sayoko." The one in the green dress said as she gestured to the girl next to her.
'He's cute' Wendy thought and gave him her brightest smile. 'If I can't find the hottie swordsman, I might just come after him."
Sayoko glanced at her friend sideways and rolled her eyes heavenward. 'She's at it again.'
Claude smiled at the other girl then asked," Are you too in the tournament also?"
Wendy laughed. "No, we are looking for someone. Maybe you can help us."
"What do they look like?"
"He's tall, dark, and handsome." Wendy said with a dreamy, far way, look in her eyes.
Claude sweat dropped. "Ummm…."
Sayoko sighed. "Pay no mind to her. Describe in detail Wendy."
"He's about 6'4, has a deep voice, crimson eyes, a swordsman from the look of him and…"
She stopped when Claude jumped up from where he was sitting.
"Does he have long blue hair and wears a long green cloak?"
Wendy nodded. "Yes that's him. He was wearing that the first time I saw him, but he wasn't wearing it when I saw him the other day."
"Dias?" Claude said incredulously. "You're looking for Dias Flac?! You saw him here in town?"
"Yes we did. " Both women where wondering why he was getting all worked up for.
"You know him then?" Sayoko asked.
"Yes, we sort of use to travel together with a few other friends." Claude replied. "Did you, by chance, see a girl with him. She has blue hair also, but it is a few shades darker then Dias'. She also wears a crescent moon pin in her hair."
"Does she have long ears?" Sayoko asked.
"Yes."
"I saw her with a couple of kids. One of them is the weapons maker Gamgee's granddaughter, Sophia. The other kid I have never seen before, but he looked about the same age, if not younger, then Sophia. They were talking to these two women. One was wearing a long green cloak, with a gold dragon pin holding it at the throat, and had long very light blue, almost white hair. The most noticeable thing was her eyes. They are different. The other women was wearing a long black coat that came all the way down almost to her feet. She was a few inches taller then the other one. Maybe about long too, so all you could see was her fingertips of the black gloves she was wearing. I couldn't see her face because of her hood. All I saw was that she had mocha colored skin with a red tint to it." Sophia then added. "I think they might be in the tournament, because they were carrying some wicked looking swords. I don't think those are even from this continent either, because I have never seen swords like that at all."
Claude thought about this for a minute. That nagging feeling came back again. The feeling he should know those people. "Where did they go?"
"Gamgee's house. It looks like."
'I have to tell the others.' Claude thought. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how you have helped my friends and I."
Sayoko smiled. "You're welcome."
Then a soldier came up to them. "Mr. Claude Kenni. You are next. Please wait over there next to the arena entrance. Where is your partner, Miss. Celine Jules?"
"I'll find her." Claude said. 'I guess I have to wait until after this match to tell them.'
He then saw his partner coming toward him and gestured to her it is their turn. He turned toward the two women. "Thank you again. I have to go now. The next match is mine." He walked off to where the soldier told him to wait.
"I guess we will ask him again later." Sayoko said. Then she noticed the look of shock on her friends face. "What's wrong Wendy?"
"Did you hear what that soldier said called him?"
"Yeah."
"Don't you remember who Claude Kenni is? Doesn't it sound familiar at all to you?"
"No, not really. You are the one who follows the tournaments more then I do."
Wendy whirled around and grabbed the shoulders of her friend. "That was THE Claude Kenni! The one who has won the Lacour Tournament of Arms three times in a row! I bet he is going to win this one too."
"Fat chance." A female voice said from behind them.
The both turned around and looked very surprised to see who they were looking at. It was the one wearing the long black cloak. This time, thought, her hood was off. She had thick black hair that framed her face a bit and the rest fell down her back into the hood. Her eyes were a different like the other girl they saw earlier. Hers were dark, almost black, with what looked like a ring of fire around the pupil.. She didn't look too happy.
"Um…. Why do you say that?" Wendy asked.
"Never mind that. It doesn't concern you?" She said. "I want to know what you told Claude. Does he know Rena and Dias are here?"
Wendy got huffy then. She raised her chin up. "And what if we don't want to tell you? You don't need to…"
Wendy shut up when she saw the ring of fire in the other women's eyes go brighter and her eyes narrow. It got awfully hot in there real quick.
Sayoko grabbed her friend's arm. "Shut up Wendy. I have a feeling you do NOT want to piss this girl off." She whispered to her friend who nodded and kept her mouth tightly shut. Sayoko turned toward the other women. "I'm sorry. Pay no attention to her. Yes he does know that they are here. Is there a problem we caused? We didn't mean too."
"Sort of." Then she shrugged and her eyes turned back to the way they were. "Oh well. I guess it would have happened sooner or later."
"Callisto? Where are you?" Women called out in the waiting room.
"Over here, Asurahime" Callisto replied back while waving her arm in the air.
When the lady came over to them they noticed it was the one with the green cloak.
"What's wrong, Callisto?" Asurahime asked as soon as she saw the look on her friends face. "Who has annoyed you now?"
"The stupid one in the too tight green dress. I think her senses have left her because she isn't getting any oxygen to her brain. If she has one."
"Callisto, stop being so mean."
"She started it. Dammit I am hungry AND she told idiot boy Dias and Rena are here."
"Oh." Asurahime turned towards the two women and glared. "You didn't tell them where they were staying did you?"
Both shook their head no.
"Good." Asurahime grabbed Callisto's arm and walked her out of the waiting room. Asurahime called over her shoulder. "You too better not say one word to him about where they are staying. And we WILL know if you do. So don't even try to lie." Then they disappeared.
Wendy and Sayoko just stood there in shock.
---- { Hotel Room #9 } ----
"So they know we are here." Dias stated. He was sitting on the bed lacing up his boots. Rena was pinning her hair back with her crescent moon hairpin. Then she put on her arm guards, which were golden and had a strange language engraved around the wrist and the upper part of the bands. Dias had the same ones on. He pulled down his sleeves of his black shirt over them.
Callisto was leaning against the wall without her coat. Her ears twitched back and forth while her tail was swaying occasionally. "Yeah, but he doesn't know where yet."
Rena sat next to Dias, and turned her back to him so he could zip up the back of her armor. While he did that she put on her boots.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Rena said. "I know they have been looking for us this whole time."
Asurahime walked in the door. "Where is Lucia?"
"He is at the coliseum already, with Gamgee and Sophia." Rena replied.
"Well let us go." Callisto said as she said as she grabbed her coat.
"Why don't you just go like that, Callisto-chan?" Rena asked. "I thought kitsunes could do illusions and hide their ears and tails."
Callisto shrugged on her coat and buttoned it up. "We can. But I don't have enough energy right now. And it gets tiring. IF something happens and I am low on energy, I won't be very much help until I drain some energy out of one of the elements. Unless you can find a fireplace or somewhere there is a fire I can drain, then I am wearing this coat."
"And Yuki isn't here to give you energy." Asurahime stated.
"I thought you were a multi-elemental kitsune." Dias said as he opened the door for them.
"I am. It's too hot for snow. We are not near the water, I don't use that much anyways, and it isn't that windy. I don't like draining wind anyways. I could drain the Earth a bit, but I don't want to because I like this place. Fire gives me more energy and it will last longer because that is my main element."
"Yuki is going to fuss about you wearing your coat and not eating." Asurahime said as they were walking out the door.
"I do eat."
"The other eat."
"Well, Yuki can kiss my ass."
Asurahime laughed and then smirked. "He'd gladly do that and then some for you, Callisto-chan."
"Shut up Asura!!"
Everyone laughed at the blush that came over her face, as they left the hotel.
----- { Meanwhile at the Coliseum }----
Precis was walking around after Claude's match, not really paying attention to anything in particular. When she bumped into someone and fell down on her backside.
"Oww." Precis moaned as she got up. "What did I run into?"
"I'm sorry." She heard a voice say and she looked down to see a kid about seven years old with light blue hair like Dias'. "I didn't see you."
"It's okay." Precis said as she helped the boy up. "I wasn't watching where I was going either."
"Hey, you're big sister Precis, right?"
"Huh? Yes I am Precis. Who are you?" She asked confused.
"It's me Lucia."
'Lucia?' She thought then it dawned on her that it was the same Lucia who was from Arlia. "OH, hey Lucia. How have you been?"
"I'm fine." Lucia said. "I came with Grandpa and Sophia to watch Momma and Daddy in the tournament."
"Th…" Precis replayed what he said in her mind. 'MOMMA AND DADDY?!?!?'
Before she could question him about it. Someone called his name.
"Lucia!! You are supposed to be with Grandpa." Said a girl who was about Precis size when she was fifteen. She had a long red Chinese robe trimmed with gold on the end of he sleeves and color. She had on with white loose pant and wearing a pair of black Chinese slippers which had gold embroidery on them.
What stood out most to Precis wasn't her light blue hair, that was normal, it was the barrettes in her hair that looked like horns laying just behind her bangs on her head and it looked like she had fangs, plus her eyes had slit pupils, like a cat's and were golden.
"I'm coming, big sister Chibi." Lucia said as he ran toward her. "Bye big sister Precis." He waved and they both disappeared in the crowd.
Precis stood there a moment. 'WTF?! Horns. Slit pupils in the eyes. FANGS?!?! What is going on?!?! I have to go find the others hopefully Claude is there also.'
She ran back toward her seat and told the others what she saw. She didn't notice the other two pair of slitted eyes saw her leave.
The green slitted eyes laughed. "She must have noticed."
The blue ones just giggled. "Yeah, oh well. Let' s go sit with Callisto and the others. "
They both walked off.
---- { A few minutes later } ----
When she got there Claude and Celine were being congratulated on a match well done.
"Hey everyone! You will never guess who I saw." Precis said in a rush.
"What, is it Darling? Celine asked.
"I was Lucia. The kid from Arlia. They are here with the some guy they call Grandpa Gamgee. And they are with some people I have never seen before. They have some strange eyes. The one I saw looked like she had dragon eyes and horns!"
That's when Ururun and Gyroro turned their heads and looked directly at Precis.
"I found out some interesting things too. Rena and Dias are here. With some people that have strange eyes to. I haven't seen them myself but these two women who were looking for Dias, told me about them when they happened to see Rena."
Ururun and Gyroro started squawking and moving around wildly. Everyone turned to Ashton for a translation. Ashton sweat dropped.
"They asked did one of them have hair that was such a light blue it looked white and wearing a green cloak that was held together at the throat by a golden dragon broach.?"
"Yes." Claude said. "That was what I was told."
They squawked some more.
"Was one of them wearing a long black coat, with very long sleeves that you can only see the finger tips of black gloves, and a hood?"
"Yes." Claude said again. "That was the other one they told me about. She is the one with the mocha colored skin with a red tint to it."
They squawked even more.
"Was the other one in a long red robe and had horns on her head that look like barrettes and has fangs? Looks about 14 years old?"
Precis nodded. "Yes. She was the one I just saw. Lucia called her Chibi."
Then Gyroro and Ururun started laughing and looked at Claude.
"Why are they looking at me like that and laughing?" Claude asked.
Ashton sweat dropped some more. "They know who they are and they said you are so f*cked."
"Who are they?" Chisato said. She had just come back in time to hear what was said. "For some reason they sound familiar."
Noel was deep in thought. "Very familiar."
Ururun and Gyroro squawked a bit more.
"They are the Weavers. They can screw with your fate or help you as long as you don't do anything stupid enough to get on their bad side." Ashton translated. "The one in the long red robe was Chibi , she is a Chinese dragon, who is the cousin of Asurahime, the Dragon Princess. Asurahime is the one with the white blue hair. The one in the long black coat was Callisto. She is a multi-elemental Kitsune. She is one of the main ones you do NOT want to piss off. Because she will have no problem toasting your butt to the next world and back. And she will walk off like nothing ever happened. There are seven others. 2 more a kitsunes, 2 are Nekoians, 2 others are light people and one is a mermaid princess.."
"Then why am I screwed?" Claude asked. "I didn't do anything to any of them."
"WRONG!!!" Ashton translated. "Asurahime doesn't like you for a few reasons and most of all YOU pissed of Callisto."
"I'VE NEVER EVEN SEEN THEM BEFORE!!" Claude shouted.
Bowman thought for a moment. 'Mocha colored skin, with a red tint? Don't like Claude….'
"Yes, we have. At least the main two any ways."
Everyone looked at him.
"Remember Claude when we were in Lacour about 4 years ago, and Rena saw us evaluating girls and she got mad at us? Or at the celebration for when we came home by, Dias' uncle, the King of Cross?"
Claude's eye widened in realization. "That was them?! But they way they were described to us now isn't the same."
Ururun and Gyroro rolled their eyes.
Ashton translated for them yet again. "They said they have other forms. The form you saw was the one they walk in their host's bodies home world. And the reason Callisto hasn't done anything major to you because one of the other Weavers, Carol, likes you. That is the only thin keeping you from being seriously harmed. No matter how annoyed she gets at you."
"You mean that isn't their body? They took over someone else's?" Celine asked.
"Now, I remember," Chisato said. "Remember that old book you had translated? The one about Energy Nede. There was also some stuff about the in it."
"Yes." Noel added. "Those bodies we saw are theirs. They were reincarnated. They aren't fully awaken yet. But enough to change fate and travel worlds and things."
"So the ones you saw were Callisto and Asurahime." Bowman said.
"What did I ever do to them?" Claude said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Chisato tapped her pencil on her lower lip. "I am sure you'll find out soon enough."
Before Claude could say anything the announcer came over the intercom.
Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen, now is the time for the next match. ALZAMGAL and NIOBE vs. DIAS FLAC and RENA FLAC.
Both teams walked out of their respective sides of the arena.
Precis was jumping up and down. "There they are. Finally. Wow! What armor are they wearing, it's like nothing I have every seen before. Even when we went to Nede."
"I am wondering what new spells Rena may have learned." Noel said.
Chisato took out her notepad. "I get the Exclusive."
Bowman and Celine looked at each other.
"Did you hear what I heard, Bowman?"
"I think so." Bowman replied. "What about the rest of you?"
Everyone thought for a minute and it hit them.
"DID HE SAY DIAS AND RENA FLAC?!?!?!?!" They yelled in unison.
Announcer: Yeah you got a problem with that. Tough. That is what the roster says. Get over it.
++++++++++++++++++++++ Author's Note ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sorry it took so long. Haven't felt like Writing. I am making a Rena and Dias shrine. Any contributions are welcome.
~ Later, Reesechan