Chapter 2
As soon as Seba woke up, he noticed three things. The first was that there was a large, spiky, red and purple wolf thing next to his bed. The second was that he was on the bottom bunk of his bed. The third was that he had two large, heavy spiders on his chest. He looked towards the wolf-thing, and remembered his name. And in a wave of knowledge that swept him up and carried him out to sea, he remembered the events of the previous night. Along with this remembrance, came the pains resulting from the previous nights escapades.
"Lucied." he said, hoarsely.
"Yes, Seba?" he replied, nudging Seba with his nose.
"Lucied, am I still alive?" he asked, looking at the spiders through still-fogged eyes.
"Seba, I am glad to report that you are very much alive." he said, giving a slight smile. "I am very happy that you still live." he said, and gave Seba a small lick on the face.
"Good. So, um, why do I have spiders on my chest?" Seba asked, in a slightly worried voice.
"Spiders…? Oh! You mean the gloves! Oh, no, those aren't spiders, Seba. Your eyes must still be cloudy from my Healing. Yes, those are gloves. If you can, try them on. I think you will be surprised." he says, with a small, mischievous smile.
Seba raises one eyebrow in suspicion. "Try them on? I'm kind of afraid to ask this, but why?" he says, with a hint of a chuckle.
"Just try it." Lucied says, holding back his own laughter.
"Okay…" he says, cautiously moving his hands to the gloves. Suddenly, the gloves jump up on there fingers, turn around so that the hole is towards Seba's hands, and attach themselves to his hands. "AHGGG!!!" He yelled, as they slid over his hand, and, amazingly, fit like a proverbial glove. Just then did Seba realize that the ten little pains in his chest where due to the fingers of the gloves pressing into his skin. Both to alleviate the pain, and to get rid of the living gloves, he shook his hands like a madman. Realizing that this was not helping, he stopped after several minutes of profuse shaking.
"What just happened!?!?!?" he practically yelled at Lucied, who was having a hard time not laughing.
"I just attached to you, that's what." said a strangely familiar, disembodied voice.
"W-Who is this?" asked Seba, backing up against the wall of his room.
"Oh, come come now, Seba. You should know me. We may have just met, but I am very, very hard to forget. If you need more help, look at the gloves." It said. Seba looked at the gloves, and his eyes widened considerably.
"Kalivos!" he said, staring in wild fear at the gloves on his hand. He noticed that they where the same color that Kalivos were. Also, his gloves resembled exactly the very claws that Kalivos had attacked him with.
"Yep, that's me. See, I told you I'm hard to forget. So, you like the claws? I was always very proud of them." he said very conversationally.
"Well… um… I can see why…" said Seba. "I mean… they're very nice. Big, sharp, shiny, sharp, and very nice I guess… I'm no judge, of course… I mean, seeing as though I've never had any and… um… I thought I killed you. What's with that?" he says, in a dazed face, highly confused.
"Oh, you did, there's no doubt about that. Or, to be more accurate, you killed my Body. Good thing too, or I would have most likely destroyed the better part of this area. I must say, you are a good warrior. With a little practice, you could become great. But, back to the point, when you killed my Body, my Mind retreated to the area where it could last the longest. That happened to be my claws. And, as you had defeated me, my Mind decided that, since I desired to live longer than that night, and you obviously have been Selected, you needed a new weapon, and some armor. So, my Mind converted my Body's remnants into a pair of Human sized claws. Lucky for you, they function as both a weapon and hand armor. Stylish, and functional. So, any questions?" he finished, as both Lucied and Seba stared at the claws, both for different reasons. Lucied was staring because the speech was so long winded. Seba was staring because he was still trying to absorb all of this.
"So what your saying is that you … morphed … into these claws I have attached to my hands, and you now live through me?" asked Seba, staring at the claws some more.
"Well, I never said that I would be living through you, but it is a very good guess. Accurate, as well." replied Kalivos, in a semi-impressed tone. "I do require another living being to sustain my life-force. That's why I cannot let you take the claws off. I hope that we can work together. So, what do you say you get dressed, and get ready to take off?"
"Okay… that would probably be a good idea, if I'm to take out these Lords." he said, a solemn attitude again sinking into his self. "Hey, Kalivos, can you see?" he asked, again upbeat.
"Not unless you let me." He replies.
"Good. Lucied, I'd kinda like a little privacy, please." he says to the Guardian. "I need to get dressed." he said, as he indicated a pair of pants and a shirt at the end of the bed.
"Oh, certainly. Please hurry, though. We do need to start packing." said Lucied, walking out of the room, and pulling the door shut with his tail.
He quickly changed into a pair of military cargos, and a gray tee shirt. After doing so, he grabbed several duplicates of the same outfit, and a camo sling-pack, and threw the clothes into the pack.
Downstairs, Lucied and the rest of Seba's family where all doing what they usually do in the morning. Eating breakfast. Seba's mom and dad where eating eggs and bacon, while his brother was eating sugar-coated cocoa sugar bombs in what appeared to be chocolate milk. Lucied was being fed strips of bacon from Seba's dad, who was possibly the stingiest person alive, when it came to his food. "Hey, guys. I smell bacon! I am hungry… Mind if I grab some?" he asked, as if it where any normal day.
"Seba! You're okay!" his mother almost yelled, in her excitement. "I mean, the wol- Lucied told me that you would be, but… I wasn't sure… I mean, he is a… um… what is he?" she says, looking from Lucied to Seba.
"He's a guardian. That's why you should trust him." he says, explaining. "He is the guardian of Desire." he says, almost seeing what was coming up next.
"Desire? That doesn't sound very… I don't know… good?" she says, looking at Lucied like something particularly foul that she just noticed on the floor.
"Mother! And you're always preaching that you can't judge a book by its cover! That's just wrong!" he said, in an offended tone.
"Well, I'm sorry for trying to protect my little boy!" she said, looking very stern, and equally offended.
"Mother, I am not a little boy any more! Did you see me fight Kalivos? And by the way, there is no need to protect me from Lucied! He is a friend! Did you see how he fought alongside me? And how he healed me?" he said, defending his friend.
"Harumph… I suppose… but Desire still doesn't sound very good…"
"Mother! Just drop it, okay? I'm gonna be leaving today, and before you ask why, or burst into tears, I have to. Okay? I need to do it for the sake of Filgia. I need to start packing, and I need to leave soon. So, please, let me pack without being bothered with pleas to stay. Because I won't. If I do, Filgia is in deep crap. Thank you, in advance." he said, with a tone of deep authority, and eyes of ice. "But, on the other hand, if you should like to help me, I would gladly accept any assistance." he said, with his face and voice returned to normal, in fact, quite happy.
"Son… maybe, I could help?" asked his dad cautiously.
"Sure! I could use some help." he said, picking up his pack. "Need a clue on some survival stuff."
"Actually, if I may interrupt, we will be in urban areas most of the time." said Lucied, nudging Seba. "We will rarely be in the wilderness."
"… Okay, than I suppose I'll need money… and some food for when I run out of cash… Hey! I just remembered! You have a book on survival, right? For just in case?" Seba asked, amazed he remembered that.
"Yeah, I do! Lemme go grab it from the truck…" Seba's dad said, taking off to the door.
"So, Lucied, what exactly will I be doing, again?" Seba asked.
"Well, truth be told, at the moment, you will be finding teammates." Lucied responded, with an air of enigmatic humor.
"I don't like the way you said that…" he said, raising an eyebrow to Lucied.
"Well… I think you will like some of the ways we're gonna meet these people." Lucied said, chuckling slightly.
"Tell me, does it have anything to do with a 'Gate o-'" he was cut off by his dad barging in with the book in hand.
"Here you go, son. Keep this thing safe. This will probably save your hide sometime." he said, looking pleased with himself for finding it. He than grabbed Seba's pack, and shoved it into a side pocket. "Do not lose this. When you come back, I expect you to give it back." he said, with a wink. "And you notice that I said 'When', not 'If'. You make sure you stay alive, okay?" he asks Seba.
"Of course, dad. I don't plan on dyin' on ya. Hey, where'd mom go?" he said, noticing that she was absent.
"I dunno. Upstairs, I think…" said Seba's dad. "Dunno what she's doing though." he said, looking at the stairs inquisitively.
"THUMP." was heard throughout the downstairs, as was a triumphant yell of "Aha! I found it!" from Seba's mother. She came rushing down the stairs holding a strange object in her hand. "Seba! Seba! Are you still here?" she said, in a hysterical state of worry that she had missed his leaving.
"Yes? I'm still here. Wuzzat?" he asked, looking at the object.
"These, my son, are family heirlooms. This one, the one in the capsule, is a gatling-type ARM." she says, throwing the capsule down, and picking up the ARM that came out. "You see, you hold it here…" she said, indicating the handle on top of the ARM. "… and you put your arm against this metal bar, and you pull the trigger here…" she says, putting her finger on the trigger.
"Honey… I really don't think you should do that…" Seba's dad said, edging away from his wife.
"Oh, nonsense, honey… as I was saying, you pull the trigger here… and this little screen shows how many bullets you have left…" she says, while her finger seems to be pulling too hard on the trigger. Suddenly, it slipped, and several shots where fired out the window. "Ahggg!!!" she yelled, as she let go of the trigger.
"Honey… please, put the ARM down… you know how you get with ARMs…" he said, grabbing the ARM from her. "Let go, honey… please? Do you remember what happened last time?" he says, slowly levering it out of her hand.
"Okay… I have to let go, don't I?" she asked, slowly relinquishing the handle.
"Yes, dear… you do… so you can give it to Seba… remember? He's leaving… and I think you where going to give this to him…" he says, very calmingly.
"Yes… that's right… Seba… Seba needs protection… yes… and… okay. I'm better now." she says, handing the ARM to Seba. "Press this little button to put it back into its capsule." she says, pressing the small blue button. "And this one… it is a true family heirloom. It's been around since Great-great-great-great-great Grandma Schrodinger was alive, lord rest her." she says, pointing to the rather puny excuse for a revolver.
"Lord? May I ask wha-" whispered Lucied in Seba's ear. He was quickly silenced by a rap to his nose, and a whispered:
"Not the time." hissed Seba.
Apparently not noticing the interruption, Seba's mother continued. "… as I said before, this ARM was designed for the female hand, but I really think it will work for you." she said, handing it to Seba.
"I'm not sure if I should take that as a complement, or an insult…" Seba said sheepishly, grinning the same way.
"Oh, don't be silly, Seba. This is called the Rage47T. While your Great-great-great-great-great Grandma didn't like this weapon, it has been in the family for generations. It hasn't seen use for as long as we've owned it, so I think it should finally get in some action." she ended with a strange twinkle in her eye, one that Seba had only seen once, two minutes ago.
"Thank you, mom. Could I like, have it now…? I think it would be safer for the squirrels in the neighborhood if you let me have it…" he said, grinning again.
"But Seriously. Thank you for giving me these ARMs. I really do think they will come in handy."
"I seriously hope so, son." Said his dad. "Hmm… you said that you needed to leave soon. I think that it would be best that you left soon, so that there is no time to dread leaving. Lets say, if you aren't gone in a half an hour, you'll be grounded for life when you get back. Kay?" his dad said, laughingly.
"Okay dad… See ya!" exclaimed Seba, suddenly getting up, and walking towards the front door, with Lucied following.
"Seba, are you sure about this? I mean, maybe you should take some more time to say Goodbye! That didn't come out ri-"
"Are you implying something?" Asked Seba, with an air that suggested true questioning, but mostly indicated humor.
"No, no, of course not. I just meant that maybe, you would want to spend some last time with the- that is not what I meant. I really wanted to say that-"
"Oh, just be quiet and walk. By the way, where are we headed?" Seba asked, gladly changing the subject. "I mean, is it somewhere, like, exotic? Or do you even know where we're headed?"
"I am offended! Of course I know where we are headed! And no, it is not exotic. Or, knowing what you are thinking now, Erotic…" Lucied said, grinning.
"Lucied!!! I'm offended that you would think that!" Seba exclaimed.
"There. We're even." Said Lucied, laughing. "And I know you where thinking something to that effect. I know, because Anastasia had a dirty mind, too. So there."
"Well, I will admit, I was thinking something like that." Said Seba, almost bursting out laughing. "Oh man, this is gonna be a fun trip…Oh! This reminds me of this song… Yah! Its called… hnnn… Town Skippin', by the Red Hot Jalapenos!" Seba than began to sing an off-key tune.
"Seba! Stop that! My ears are starting to hurt!" Whined Lucied, head held low.
"Deal with it." he said, singing some more.
"Seba!" Shouted Kalivos, voice indicating extreme pain. "Please!!!" and Seba just kept singing…
Thus began the true journey that would begin the journey that would become the legend.
Review, please! (If you don't, I will sic Kalivos on you.)