Disclaimer: ...................EYABADUTA!!!! Ain't the Leon/Hikeru
pairing-o-mine cute? I decided to give Hikeru pink hair and pig
tails...cuz it's MY LIFE!! HEHEHAHA!
~*~Rena~*~
The ship began sailing back to Lacour with the sun setting. I stood at the back of the boat watching the sun disappear. It was a beautiful shade of red and orange and reflected off the water. I sighed and brushed my hair back. I looked over to see Leon and Hikeru looking over the edge, looking at fish probably. I walked over to them.
"Oh, look!" Hikeru said with excitement.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked as I leaned on the rail.
"Oh nothing, just looking at the fish and stuff." Leon said. He pulled out his spell book and began looking at it. Hikeru saw him and looked at it as well.
"Whatcha doin?" She asked.
"I'm looking at a new spell I found." He said proudly.
"What kind of spell?" Hikeru said with more interest. I became interested also and listened.
"It's called 'Nether Spirit'." He said. "It supposed to bring forth a demon and attack any enemy on the field." (I decided to give'm a new spell. ^_^)
"Oh, showmeshowmeshowme!" Hikeru said tugging on Leon's sleeve.
"We can't do that here." I said. "It's too dangerous." Hikeru wined and looked out at the water.
"Like anything's not dangerous." I heard someone mutter. I look over to find Ando leaning on the rail toward the front of the boat. He looked sad in some way.
"Is something wrong?" I asked as I got closer to him.
"No...nothing." He said quietly. I could see it in his eyes something was wrong.
"Ando..." He looked away and sighed. (I'm beginning to think theres too much sighing, don't you?)
"We hardly know each other, and you can already tell that I'm lying." He said.
"What?"
"You can look at me, and tell if I'm telling the truth, or not." He said smirking some. Well, sure I can tell if someone's lying or not. I can tell if Claude is...then again, we have known each other for a while, but that's an exception.
"Well, not that you always lie but, can't anyone?" I asked. Ando looked at me.
"No one could ever spot it before." He said. "I have told a few lies, and no one notices. Right now you're the first one to catch that." He laughed a little and looked out at the water. The look on his face reminded me of Claude when we first went on a boat to Lacour. Come to think of it, I've been thinking about him a lot lately. One night I felt like I would never see him again, like he would die the next morning or something. I looked down into the murky water below and saw an image of Falceon killing Claude. I closed my eyes and turned away. Was it all my fault that Claude got dragged into this, or was it because he could use the god's power against Falceon? I looked up and saw Claude standing on the other end of the boat. He had his sword out and was examining it.
"Hey." I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at Ando. "What's wrong?"
"I was just thinking." I said looking down.
"About what?" He asked.
"Well...have you actually seen Falceon?" I asked.
"No, we've never been able to see anything but an outline."
"What kind of power does he have?" Ando looked out at the sea and stared. He sat there for a moment.
"Well, uh, from what we've seen, he has the power to blow away the entire island the Hoffman Ruins is on." He said. "But he could be hiding some of his powers, saving them for the final fight."
"If I couldn't save the people on the Calnus, I can't save Expel!" I looked over at Claude. He was talking to Sugano and walked away. Sugano looked blankly at Claude as he walked away. I watched him. What did he mean by Calnus? Wasn't that his father's...ship, or something? I walked over to Sugano to find out what was wrong.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"He still thinks it's his fault his father's dead." I looked at Claude who was now at the back of the boat. "I know how he feels, but, you just need to forget it and move on." Sugano walked toward Ando and started a discussion. I walked over to Claude and looked at him. He didn't look at me, but continued staring at the water.
"Claude?" I said. "What's wrong?" He sighed and looked away from me.
"Nothing important." He mumbled. "Just leave me alone."
"Claude."
"Just leave me alone!" He turned to look at me.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me." I said. He turned away and leaned on the rail.
"I'd rather not tell anyone." He said quietly. I was about to say something, but stopped.
"We're almost to Lacour, be ready to dock!" A sailor cried out. I looked at Claude.
"Let's go get ready." I said. He didn't move or say anything. "Claude."
"Fine." He said getting up and walking toward the front of the boat. I followed, a few feet behind him. Soon we arrived at Lacour and started towards Linga. It was about ten minutes until we ran into a battle. Leon used his new spell and ended the battle. I have to say, that was impressive, for a kid. Hikeru nearly knocked Leon down when she tried to hug him. Noel asked him where he got it, and Ashton became interested. For the rest of the way Ando would say things to Dias every now and then, Sugano stayed quiet as usual. Claude seemed so distant. He wouldn't act like that often. He was probably still upset from that talk with Sugano. When we got to Linga the sun was down. Claude and Sugano headed for Precis' house to finish something up and spend the night. The rest of us got a room at the inn and spent the night there. I got a room with Ando while Dias and Leon got a room. The rest is as you can see. While I laid on my bed Ando looked at some writing he got from Keith that dealt with the Cave of Trials. I began to close my eyes and fall asleep. Ando continued to look at the writings. I looked at him.
"Are you going to look at those all night?" I asked.
"I'm just looking for something." He said holding up a paper. "Something about the Eternal Fate."
"What for?"
"Just...I dunno." He laid the paper down and put them all away. "Might as well get some sleep." He said as he laid down.
"Hey Ando." I said. He looked up.
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to tell the others about you being...you know." I asked. He paused for a moment.
"I guess, but not right now." He closed his eyes. "I feel like it's not time yet." I sighed and went to sleep.
The next day I woke up shortly after Ando. Soon we were all up. Ando and I went over to Precis' house to check on Claude and Sugano. When we got there we found them messing with that bike thing. Only this time, there were two. Sugano noticed us and looked up from the bike.
"What took you so long?" He said as Claude looked up but went back to working.
"We were waiting for everyone to wake up." Ando said, walking up to the bike. "So how's it coming?"
"Not, bad." Claude grunted as he turned something. "Graft was working on'em while we were gone."
"Really?" Ando said.
"Yeah, really hard." Graft walked in with Precis.
"When'd you get here?" Precis asked sitting on the desk.
"We just got here." Ando said as Claude straitened up.
"Well, let's test it and see if we need to do anything." He said. Sugano agreed and helped Claude get the bikes to the gate. Graft stayed behind while the rest of us followed. Claude got on one while Sugano got on the other. They both hit a switch and the bike hovered off the ground. Claude grabbed the handle and shot forward with great speed. Sugano followed after Claude and began riding around the clearing. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Claude rode high on the hillside and Sugano began race him.
"Go faster!" Precis hollered as they passed us. I laughed a little and watched the two go twice as fast. They rode around the field two more times before stopping in front of us.
"Hop on." Claude said to me.
"Yeah, you'll love it." Sugano said as Precis jumped on without hesitation. I got on and wrapped my arms around Claude's chest.
"Hold on tight." He said as we started moving. Now I can see why they love it, it does go really fast. Ando stood at the gate watching us and laughed as Precis hollered for joy. We rode around the hill and leapt off the top of it. I tightened my grip as we went in mid air. We landed and rode to the gate. Precis hopped off staggering a little. I got off and so did Claude.
"Did you find anything wrong with yours?" Sugano asked as he jumped off.
"Yeah." Claude said. We all looked at him and there was silence. Then a small smile crept from his face. "It doesn't go fast enough." We all laughed and walked back to the inn. Claude and Sugano hid the bikes in the bushes by the gate so no body would take them or see them. We walked in the inn and found the others waiting in the lobby.
"So where were you?" Ashton asked.
"Testing something." Sugano said. "Anything wrong with that?"
"Nothing at all." Ashton said looking away.
"All that's left to do is wait for the army to come." Ando said. Oh that's right, I forgot about them.
"Where were they going to attack?" Claude asked Ashton. Ashton looked at him.
"They might attack either the castle first or the front line. I'm not sure." He said.
"Then let's have half go to the castle and the other half go to the front line." Claude said.
"That'd work." Dias said standing up. "There's a better chance of the army attacking to front, so Claude you go there."
"Who else goes with him?" I asked.
"I'll stay at the castle." Sugano announced.
"Alright, you, Ando, Ashton and Precis will go to the front line." Dias said to me. "Everyone else will go to the castle, and we'd better get going as soon as we can." We all agreed and got ready to leave for the castle. Claude and Sugano got the bikes (that name has got ta go, SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!) and brought them along. Ando was talking to Ashton, Sugano stayed silent the whole way unless addressed, Dias every now and then, Leon and Hikeru were taking up a storm with Precis and me. As for Claude, he seemed focused on something, or maybe sad, I couldn't tell. Maybe he was tiered, or something.
"Rena!" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Leon.
"Oh, yes?" I said.
"Did you here what I said about my spell?"
"Uh, no, sorry." Is said. He sighed.
"So what do you think about my new spell?" He asked.
"That 'Nether Spirit'? It's impressive." I said.
"There, see Precis?" Leon said with a smile.
"I believe what I see, not hear." She said. Leon laughed a little. Hikeru tugged on Leon's sleeve.
"Show me the spell again please." She pleaded.
"We can't do it here, only in fights." I said. Leon grunted and went back to talking with Hikeru. About twenty minutes later we reached Lacour. Dias, Leon, Hikeru, Noel and Sugano went to the castle while the rest of us made our way to the front line. It was around noon before we reached the front line. We walked in and headed for the commanders office. As we were walking Ando was looking around at the place.
"So this is the front line, huh?" He said as we walked into store.
"Usually it's not this empty. There used to be many soldiers here when the Sorcery Globe was still around." I said to Ando as we walked up the stairs. We turned and entered the office. The commander looked at us.
"Do you remember us?" Claude asked. The commander paused for a moment.
"Oh yes. You're the ones who were here a few months ago, right?" He asked as he walked up to us.
"Yes, and we're here to help defend Lacour one last time." Claude said. The commander stopped and looked at him. We all looked at Claude. Was he that confident enough to believe that this fight will put an end to evil that will harm Expel? Or does he really believe this is the final fight to defend Expel? The commander sighed and looked out the window. There was silence, the only sound was the outside activities. The commander opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked up, his expression blank. Was he surprised that we want to help, or has something bad happened?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Divine Soul: Sorry for da delay...if ther was one...I can only get on the almighty computer on fri. n weekends-wait...didn't I already say that? Next chapter as soon as possible...hang on, lemmie say I can't get online to ff.net but I can check emal...that's it. I based the chapter name off of the way the front line needs help.
~*~Rena~*~
The ship began sailing back to Lacour with the sun setting. I stood at the back of the boat watching the sun disappear. It was a beautiful shade of red and orange and reflected off the water. I sighed and brushed my hair back. I looked over to see Leon and Hikeru looking over the edge, looking at fish probably. I walked over to them.
"Oh, look!" Hikeru said with excitement.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked as I leaned on the rail.
"Oh nothing, just looking at the fish and stuff." Leon said. He pulled out his spell book and began looking at it. Hikeru saw him and looked at it as well.
"Whatcha doin?" She asked.
"I'm looking at a new spell I found." He said proudly.
"What kind of spell?" Hikeru said with more interest. I became interested also and listened.
"It's called 'Nether Spirit'." He said. "It supposed to bring forth a demon and attack any enemy on the field." (I decided to give'm a new spell. ^_^)
"Oh, showmeshowmeshowme!" Hikeru said tugging on Leon's sleeve.
"We can't do that here." I said. "It's too dangerous." Hikeru wined and looked out at the water.
"Like anything's not dangerous." I heard someone mutter. I look over to find Ando leaning on the rail toward the front of the boat. He looked sad in some way.
"Is something wrong?" I asked as I got closer to him.
"No...nothing." He said quietly. I could see it in his eyes something was wrong.
"Ando..." He looked away and sighed. (I'm beginning to think theres too much sighing, don't you?)
"We hardly know each other, and you can already tell that I'm lying." He said.
"What?"
"You can look at me, and tell if I'm telling the truth, or not." He said smirking some. Well, sure I can tell if someone's lying or not. I can tell if Claude is...then again, we have known each other for a while, but that's an exception.
"Well, not that you always lie but, can't anyone?" I asked. Ando looked at me.
"No one could ever spot it before." He said. "I have told a few lies, and no one notices. Right now you're the first one to catch that." He laughed a little and looked out at the water. The look on his face reminded me of Claude when we first went on a boat to Lacour. Come to think of it, I've been thinking about him a lot lately. One night I felt like I would never see him again, like he would die the next morning or something. I looked down into the murky water below and saw an image of Falceon killing Claude. I closed my eyes and turned away. Was it all my fault that Claude got dragged into this, or was it because he could use the god's power against Falceon? I looked up and saw Claude standing on the other end of the boat. He had his sword out and was examining it.
"Hey." I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at Ando. "What's wrong?"
"I was just thinking." I said looking down.
"About what?" He asked.
"Well...have you actually seen Falceon?" I asked.
"No, we've never been able to see anything but an outline."
"What kind of power does he have?" Ando looked out at the sea and stared. He sat there for a moment.
"Well, uh, from what we've seen, he has the power to blow away the entire island the Hoffman Ruins is on." He said. "But he could be hiding some of his powers, saving them for the final fight."
"If I couldn't save the people on the Calnus, I can't save Expel!" I looked over at Claude. He was talking to Sugano and walked away. Sugano looked blankly at Claude as he walked away. I watched him. What did he mean by Calnus? Wasn't that his father's...ship, or something? I walked over to Sugano to find out what was wrong.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"He still thinks it's his fault his father's dead." I looked at Claude who was now at the back of the boat. "I know how he feels, but, you just need to forget it and move on." Sugano walked toward Ando and started a discussion. I walked over to Claude and looked at him. He didn't look at me, but continued staring at the water.
"Claude?" I said. "What's wrong?" He sighed and looked away from me.
"Nothing important." He mumbled. "Just leave me alone."
"Claude."
"Just leave me alone!" He turned to look at me.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me." I said. He turned away and leaned on the rail.
"I'd rather not tell anyone." He said quietly. I was about to say something, but stopped.
"We're almost to Lacour, be ready to dock!" A sailor cried out. I looked at Claude.
"Let's go get ready." I said. He didn't move or say anything. "Claude."
"Fine." He said getting up and walking toward the front of the boat. I followed, a few feet behind him. Soon we arrived at Lacour and started towards Linga. It was about ten minutes until we ran into a battle. Leon used his new spell and ended the battle. I have to say, that was impressive, for a kid. Hikeru nearly knocked Leon down when she tried to hug him. Noel asked him where he got it, and Ashton became interested. For the rest of the way Ando would say things to Dias every now and then, Sugano stayed quiet as usual. Claude seemed so distant. He wouldn't act like that often. He was probably still upset from that talk with Sugano. When we got to Linga the sun was down. Claude and Sugano headed for Precis' house to finish something up and spend the night. The rest of us got a room at the inn and spent the night there. I got a room with Ando while Dias and Leon got a room. The rest is as you can see. While I laid on my bed Ando looked at some writing he got from Keith that dealt with the Cave of Trials. I began to close my eyes and fall asleep. Ando continued to look at the writings. I looked at him.
"Are you going to look at those all night?" I asked.
"I'm just looking for something." He said holding up a paper. "Something about the Eternal Fate."
"What for?"
"Just...I dunno." He laid the paper down and put them all away. "Might as well get some sleep." He said as he laid down.
"Hey Ando." I said. He looked up.
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to tell the others about you being...you know." I asked. He paused for a moment.
"I guess, but not right now." He closed his eyes. "I feel like it's not time yet." I sighed and went to sleep.
The next day I woke up shortly after Ando. Soon we were all up. Ando and I went over to Precis' house to check on Claude and Sugano. When we got there we found them messing with that bike thing. Only this time, there were two. Sugano noticed us and looked up from the bike.
"What took you so long?" He said as Claude looked up but went back to working.
"We were waiting for everyone to wake up." Ando said, walking up to the bike. "So how's it coming?"
"Not, bad." Claude grunted as he turned something. "Graft was working on'em while we were gone."
"Really?" Ando said.
"Yeah, really hard." Graft walked in with Precis.
"When'd you get here?" Precis asked sitting on the desk.
"We just got here." Ando said as Claude straitened up.
"Well, let's test it and see if we need to do anything." He said. Sugano agreed and helped Claude get the bikes to the gate. Graft stayed behind while the rest of us followed. Claude got on one while Sugano got on the other. They both hit a switch and the bike hovered off the ground. Claude grabbed the handle and shot forward with great speed. Sugano followed after Claude and began riding around the clearing. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Claude rode high on the hillside and Sugano began race him.
"Go faster!" Precis hollered as they passed us. I laughed a little and watched the two go twice as fast. They rode around the field two more times before stopping in front of us.
"Hop on." Claude said to me.
"Yeah, you'll love it." Sugano said as Precis jumped on without hesitation. I got on and wrapped my arms around Claude's chest.
"Hold on tight." He said as we started moving. Now I can see why they love it, it does go really fast. Ando stood at the gate watching us and laughed as Precis hollered for joy. We rode around the hill and leapt off the top of it. I tightened my grip as we went in mid air. We landed and rode to the gate. Precis hopped off staggering a little. I got off and so did Claude.
"Did you find anything wrong with yours?" Sugano asked as he jumped off.
"Yeah." Claude said. We all looked at him and there was silence. Then a small smile crept from his face. "It doesn't go fast enough." We all laughed and walked back to the inn. Claude and Sugano hid the bikes in the bushes by the gate so no body would take them or see them. We walked in the inn and found the others waiting in the lobby.
"So where were you?" Ashton asked.
"Testing something." Sugano said. "Anything wrong with that?"
"Nothing at all." Ashton said looking away.
"All that's left to do is wait for the army to come." Ando said. Oh that's right, I forgot about them.
"Where were they going to attack?" Claude asked Ashton. Ashton looked at him.
"They might attack either the castle first or the front line. I'm not sure." He said.
"Then let's have half go to the castle and the other half go to the front line." Claude said.
"That'd work." Dias said standing up. "There's a better chance of the army attacking to front, so Claude you go there."
"Who else goes with him?" I asked.
"I'll stay at the castle." Sugano announced.
"Alright, you, Ando, Ashton and Precis will go to the front line." Dias said to me. "Everyone else will go to the castle, and we'd better get going as soon as we can." We all agreed and got ready to leave for the castle. Claude and Sugano got the bikes (that name has got ta go, SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!) and brought them along. Ando was talking to Ashton, Sugano stayed silent the whole way unless addressed, Dias every now and then, Leon and Hikeru were taking up a storm with Precis and me. As for Claude, he seemed focused on something, or maybe sad, I couldn't tell. Maybe he was tiered, or something.
"Rena!" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Leon.
"Oh, yes?" I said.
"Did you here what I said about my spell?"
"Uh, no, sorry." Is said. He sighed.
"So what do you think about my new spell?" He asked.
"That 'Nether Spirit'? It's impressive." I said.
"There, see Precis?" Leon said with a smile.
"I believe what I see, not hear." She said. Leon laughed a little. Hikeru tugged on Leon's sleeve.
"Show me the spell again please." She pleaded.
"We can't do it here, only in fights." I said. Leon grunted and went back to talking with Hikeru. About twenty minutes later we reached Lacour. Dias, Leon, Hikeru, Noel and Sugano went to the castle while the rest of us made our way to the front line. It was around noon before we reached the front line. We walked in and headed for the commanders office. As we were walking Ando was looking around at the place.
"So this is the front line, huh?" He said as we walked into store.
"Usually it's not this empty. There used to be many soldiers here when the Sorcery Globe was still around." I said to Ando as we walked up the stairs. We turned and entered the office. The commander looked at us.
"Do you remember us?" Claude asked. The commander paused for a moment.
"Oh yes. You're the ones who were here a few months ago, right?" He asked as he walked up to us.
"Yes, and we're here to help defend Lacour one last time." Claude said. The commander stopped and looked at him. We all looked at Claude. Was he that confident enough to believe that this fight will put an end to evil that will harm Expel? Or does he really believe this is the final fight to defend Expel? The commander sighed and looked out the window. There was silence, the only sound was the outside activities. The commander opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked up, his expression blank. Was he surprised that we want to help, or has something bad happened?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Divine Soul: Sorry for da delay...if ther was one...I can only get on the almighty computer on fri. n weekends-wait...didn't I already say that? Next chapter as soon as possible...hang on, lemmie say I can't get online to ff.net but I can check emal...that's it. I based the chapter name off of the way the front line needs help.