Being Human
Chapter Two: One of Those Nights
Through Dark
Lloyd wasn't happy to hear his thunderous heartbeat fill his ears with the sound of pumping blood. For one, he wanted to know beforehand if anything was creeping up out of sight, and for another he didn't want any creatures with acute hearing out there being reminded of his fear, vulnerability, or tastiness.
"What do you think those were?" asked Genis, hurriedly packing food. Zelos had lost most of his cavalier attitude, and was turning at the slightest rustle of windblown grass, Omega Shield and silver sword at the ready.
"They sounded like wolves to me," Raine murmured, and if she was even as worried as her brother, she didn't let it show. Neither of them were good fighters without someone on the front lines, but this wasn't immediately apparent from the determined way Raine gripped her staff. It was probably the allergies.
"Black wolves are common in this region. I should have realised people from the declining world wouldn't have the sense to be stealthy out in wild country–" Zelos grumbled.
"Wild country?!" Lloyd protested. "This looks like my back yard!"
"Quieter, please, Lloyd," Raine said. To her surprise, the next minute did pass in silence as Genis folded up the last of his cooking equipment and stood, ready to move. This was enough unlike Lloyd that Raine couldn't keep from checking to make sure that Lloyd was still there. Naturally, he wasn't. "Where did he go?"
"He probably noticed that Colette's missing," Genis said.
"What? Didn't I say that we're going to find her?" Zelos demanded.
"No," Raine answered coldly. "You ordered someone to go find her."
"Oh, great, now he's doing what I say. Brilliant way to get killed," the Chosen said.
Raine and Genis shared a brother-and-sister look, the kind that contains an entire conversation within a second of eyebrow twitching. Raine asked if it was even possible that Zelos was in this reality and not just a hallucination. Genis replied that if his ego was possible, the rest of his unbelievable nature was a minor thing. Raine wondered in a roundabout way if it might not be kinder to the universe to knock him out with her staff and leave him to the wolves. Genis suggested that they wait until it would be easier to make it look like an accident.
"So half of our party is out in the perilous darkness. Let's find them first," Raine said firmly, and then bent over double with the force of a sneeze-ambush.
"I'll find Presea!" Genis volunteered, leaping forward, but Zelos caught him by the collar.
"We'll all find Presea. And we probably should find her first. Colette can hold her own against most things right now, and if Lloyd can't, that's his problem." Genis didn't respond to this, at least not with words, but he did give Zelos' foot a bit of a stomping before moving on.
They walked carefully through the grassy plain, not daring to light a torch or break into a run. The wolves of Sylvarant were bad enough, but in the flourishing world they would be born stronger and nourished better, though unfortunately not enough to skip over a few wayward travellers.
"Where did they all get to?" Raine asked stuffily.
"With any luck, those wolf howls will have warned Presea, and she'll know to get to safety. Wolves don't climb well," Zelos explained.
There hadn't been any howls since the first three, which had perhaps been one pack calling others in to the hunt. Genis was likely the most worried, as he knew that more spellcasting was likely to call in extra monsters in greater numbers than he could defeat per blast. Did Lloyd know how to avoid wolves? Would he even bother trying?
The tall grass that had formerly felt to the little Sage like a sheltering blanket-rug rising from the cool earth was now a menacing veil, blocking most of his sight –a stray thought wondered if he would be short all his life, or if his life would be too short to find out– and muffling the sounds of distant predators on the hunt. Genis only realised that he was getting worked up over the sound of his own breathing when it quickened in fear.
"Don't blow yourself up, kid," said Zelos, noticing Genis' tense attitude.
"Will you just be–" Raine began angrily, but another wolf howl, almost mournful, pierced the deep night, and she nearly took off the heads of both her companions with her Ruby Staff in a single frantic swing.
"No, I will not be staff-smacked by a frantic elf who shouldn't even be in combat," Zelos replied, feeling the back of his head to ensure that she hadn't damaged him. "How far away do you suppose that howl came from?"
Raine replayed the last few moments of her memory, trying not to let the irksome Chosen distract her from the danger at hand. "At least two miles away, in the far forest by those mountains."
"Probably nothing to do with us, then," Zelos decided, turning back in the direction he was pretty sure they had been travelling in beforehand.
"Hnnnghhrrlll," the black wolf agreed.
Lloyd ran recklessly through the waist-high grass, determined to find Colette before anything dangerous could, ready to draw and fight if he found monsters first. She had been sitting by the fire last anyone had seen her, close enough to feel the warmth, too far to be in danger of burning– everything was silent calculation with that girl these days. What could have broken through that shell enough to make Colette wander off on her own? Did she actually want to be alone? It wouldn't fit with the heartless drone Yggdrasill had made her out to be. Was that terrible angel wrong about her loss of soul?
If it weren't for the wolves, thought Lloyd, this would be a hopeful night.
As though placed in his path by the Summon Spirit of Irony, Lloyd nearly tripped over a low dark obstacle and stumbled to a halt a few paces beyond. The thing rose, and in the faint light of a rising moon, he saw eyes glint and fangs glisten. Two more living shadows lifted themselves from the ground, and Lloyd wondered if the beasts of Tethe'alla were bad enough to warrant fear.
Three to one odds is always a good reason to be afraid, Lloyd admitted to himself, but then another shape caught his eye. The reason the predators had been crouched and unaware of his approach was that they had been busy feasting. A body lay prone in the darkness.
"COLETTE!" In combat, rage can be a multiplicative factor. The odds were now three to one– against the wolves.
No spectator could have been certain how the fight progressed, not in deep shadow when the only hints of motion were twin swords flashing with silver moonlight and the subtle slithering of blackness within already-impenetrable dark, sight that must be felt with the eyes.
But when it was over, when the last fatal strike caused a catastrophic mana imbalance that disintegrated the third black wolf's remains (in other words, it exploded very neatly in a faint burst of light) Lloyd looked only determined and faintly scratched. With no other thoughts in his head, he checked the prey.
A deer.
The white he had mistaken for Colette's holy garb was just fur.
No loss yet.
They had deer in Tethe'alla, too.
A wave of drowsiness engulfed Lloyd as his body came back down from the battle-fury his Exsphere called up in times of distress. Over Limits, Raine had called it. But this was no time to sleep. Lloyd rose from his knees, without remembering falling to begin with, and pressed on into the night.
"I can handle this," Zelos assured them grimly, twirling his sword once. "Genis, no magic, you hear me? Raine, stand back unless one of us is about to die. I can take a wolf, no trouble."
"I hear a lot more of them…" Genis murmured, trying in vain to see better.
Zelos paused. "Like how many?"
"Perhaps a dozen," Raine decided.
"Okay… uh…" Zelos watched the approaching wolf more warily. If it was meant to distract him, these things were a lot brighter than he had given them credit for.
"Fantastic! 'Uh'! Where do you get these strategies?!" Genis demanded.
"That way!" Zelos shouted, pointing with his shield arm and beating a hasty retreat from the only enemy he could keep his eyes on.
"Oh, come on, that's ridiculous," said Genis. "It was a rhetorical question, you can't possibly tell me your ideas come from 'that wa'–" Raine, who was rational enough to understand Zelos' meaning, hauled her brother over one shoulder and dashed in the direction the Chosen had picked, hoping she wasn't about to step on any other beasts.
"Haaachou!" Of all the times, that had to be the worst. Taken completely by surprise, the professor tripped in mid-sneeze and completed an awkward and painful somersault, slamming Genis into the ground halfway through. To his credit, Zelos hadn't gone more than ten paces past them before realising that he was on his own, and only a few wolves blocked his return path by then.
"This counts as bad," Zelos decided. Even he could hear how many of the hunting monsters were out there now. "But if anyone's going to save us… I guess it'll have to be me."
Genis stared with incredible blankness for one trapped by vicious monsters. "What?" It barely had enough emotion to count as a question, so absorbed was he by disbelief.
Zelos had the sense to make the right first move; he lunged at the pair of black-haired beasts that were trying to keep him separate from the Sages. "Sonic Thrust!" At the same time, Raine saw the ground at Genis' feet begin to sparkle with gathering power, and she focused on warding off attackers while he chanted the spell.
"Pancake time!" Genis shouted, unable to control the thrill of magic-channelling.
"Could've sworn I said no magic!" Zelos growled, but a leaping attack stole his attention back. The wolf's claws scrabbled against his Omega shield as he crouched and deflected it overhead, just in time.
"Stalagmite!" Genis finished, taking little notice of the admonition. A ring of stony spikes burst from the ground under several close-pressed wolves, followed by another two tiers to complete an earthen crown that hurled them in all directions.
With zeal worthy of his name, Zelos slashed at any foe who approached, and after a few tactical charges and side-slipping, he managed to rejoin the Sage siblings. Battle experience moved them instinctively back to back, though the realisation that they were both trapped and outnumbered did a lot to counter the relative safety of unity.
"I told you magic would draw more of these things," Zelos reminded them.
"Do we care now?" Raine demanded. "I'll be happy to argue later. Maybe in the Sybak inn."
"If wishing made it true…" Zelos mumbled. The wolves weren't moving in any sort of recognizable pattern, but the best chance would be to pick a weak point and push with everything he had. "Still, if anyone's going to save us, I guess it'll have to be–"
"Infliction!" A white-gold crescent moon flared in the darkness, destroying one monster and hurling aside another. "Beast!" The lion spirit scattered wolves in its path and startled those who saw it enough to break up the circling pack for a moment.
Genis didn't need ordering. "Aqua Edge!" Raine followed in the wake of his spell, with Genis close behind and Zelos fending off any creatures that would prefer to attack a fleeing target.
"We are heavily outnumbered," Presea noted, which apparently counted as a warm reunion. "Chance of success is negligible. Punishment!" Her axe spun wildly, driving off the regrouping beasts.
"We don't have to win, just get away," Zelos said.
"In a battle like this, escape is victory," Raine point out.
"That is a valid perspective," Presea agreed.
"That was great, Presea!" Genis said as the four travellers fled their pursuers.
Presea didn't seem to take any notice, but remained focused on leading them towards the forest. "This path is free of predators," she told them, and no one doubted how the tiny berserker knew that for certain.
"Great. We can hide out in the trees until morning. There's no way they'll stay on us that long," Zelos said confidently.
"What about Lloyd and Colette!?" Genis demanded.
"With any luck he'll have figured it out too," Zelos stated flatly. "I'm not going to send people out to provide those wolves with a second course."
"You're not sending us anywhere," Raine said sharply, and would have liked to stomp to a halt, except that there were clearly hunters after them, and gaining very quickly. "And saving our friends isn't a calculation."
"That's too bad; I'm really good with math," Zelos remarked.
They reached the treeline soon after, and with Raine's help even Genis was able to scramble up to a safe height. In the light of a fully-risen moon, they could pick out the courses run by the coming wolf packs, and as tall grass gave way to the forest's edge, their darting shadows took more obvious shape.
"Improbable quantities of opposing forces," Presea remarked.
"What do you mean?" asked Genis.
"She means there are at least fifty of them out there, which is way more than any wolf pack should naturally form," said Zelos, who had been struggling to count the beasts.
"They are monsters," Raine said. "Doesn't that explain unusual behaviour?"
"Monsters are still animals," said Presea. In her opinion, this explained everything.
"What?" asked Zelos.
"Monsters should still be smart enough to realise that fifty of them can't survive on a little band of adventurers. Something malicious is driving them," said Genis.
"Sucks to be Lloyd," Zelos said, nodding as listened to Genis' explanation.
"I'm going to find him," Genis insisted. "Everyone else can do what they want."
"Crazy brat," said Zelos. "Gorgeous Miss Raine?"
"Professor Sage," Raine corrected him. "And without Kratos, the duty falls to me to keep the Chosen safe. I have a choice…" She sighed and looked to the sky. "But I can't choose any other way."
Zelos groaned and looked hopefully to Presea. "How about you, little rosebud?"
She clutched the branch firmly, watching the roaming creatures below. Although she didn't move, didn't even blink, he got the feeling that great forces were conflicting inside her. She looked no older than Genis, but that was an appearance Zelos doubted more every hour that went by.
"Chances of survival increase exponentially with greater numbers," she decided. "I will follow the majority."
"If you stayed with me, we'd be split fifty-fifty," Zelos grumbled. "All right, fine, how do we get out there and find this kid without getting eaten?"
"I wish Sheena was still with us," Genis said, leaning out precariously from the sturdy branch. Fortunately –as the whole explanation would have slowed them down for some time– he didn't notice the horrified expression on Zelos' face, which was the sort Genis personally would have given to Forcystus wearing a Katz suit. "But I think I've got it. We need to tree-hop."
"Maxwell preserve us…" Raine muttered, too quietly for anyone to hear, then spoke more normally. "Which way are we going?"
"…North, staying at the edge of the trees," Genis decided.
"Impractical," Presea said. "The trees are easier to travel between in the more thickly forested regions."
"We also don't know that Lloyd is within sight of the forest," Raine added.
"Fun being leader, isn't it?" asked Zelos cheerfully.
"I'm not leading," Genis replied. "And we don't need to find Lloyd from up top. Just go, I'll catch up." Confused but sufficiently convinced, Raine, Presea, and Zelos edged into the intertwining limbs of a neighbouring tree and crossed over. Raine in particular leapt from one to the other with both eyes shut and immediately sprinted along the second branch until she could lean against the trunk.
"Y'know, that dash was probably more dangerous than the hop," Zelos said, shifting his weight gymnastically over the gap. "Hey, Presea, can you get that far on your own?"
The tactiturn girl looked at him impassively. "I will adapt." She ran out to the end of the branch, used its maximum flexibility to strengthen her jump, and soared through the air for a full second before landing axe-first against the central pillar of the tree. She climbed up to the same level as the others and dislodged her weapon without so much as a heavy exhalation.
Genis waited for his friends –more accurately his sister, his not-very-secret crush, and his necessary ally– to gain quite some distance before starting the second step. "Kind of ironic that I wouldn't have thought of this trick if I didn't get us into this mess to start with," he said to himself. "Wind Blade!" Several slices severed a few thin branches, which plummeted uninterrupted to the ground. "Fire Ball!" That got them blazing. Reluctantly, Genis let the meat pouch with their best beef fall from his hand.
In moments every black wolf for a hundred yards was overpowered by the scent of cooking meat. Genis watched as they started to gather, and held back his kendama. He had intended to follow it up with something magical and devastating when enough of them had gathered, but if he didn't have to…
With all the speed his Dash EX gem afforded, Genis scrambled across the branches and after the others, unwilling to stop until he found Lloyd. In the distance the beasts howled.
Lloyd, who had only just discovered how many black wolves were seeking him when he heard the cry go up, would have welcomed being found almost as much as he would have welcomed Colette's voice. He hadn't heard her speak for almost a week now, and had no real reason to think he ever would again.
"What could have called her out here?" he murmured, and then realised that any hint of his location was a very bad thing to be giving out right now.
Kkgghrrrrrrrrr…
"Whoa," Lloyd whispered, because it took more than the risk of fanged death to shut him up. "That's quite some… thunder…" He looked up at the star-dusted sky, totally devoid of storm clouds. Then, with reluctant slowness, he looked to his right, and saw vague silhouettes that weren't as black as the night or the wolves. Approaching as quietly as he knew how, Lloyd spied with rising hope a blond girl with wings that seemed to have grown from the heavenly aurora.
The hulking thing she was facing impassively, a hairy beast twice her height that seemed to be equal parts wolf and demon, applied a fantastic downward acceleration to that same hope. Its blue skin and fur seemed outlandish, almost funny, if not for the fangs that made their purpose in life very clear to all who gazed upon them.
Neither moved, although Lloyd thought that one of the creature's ears might have twitched when he placed one hand on a sword hilt. On the positive side, Colette was alive and unscathed. Always stay positive, even though your remaining life is likely to be very, very, very short.
"Colette?" Lloyd called with supreme quietness, barely loud enough to reach his own ears and wavering more than he would have liked. The beast –never had Lloyd seen a creature to more aptly fill that description– turned to him without hesitation and snarled. "Colette, quick, run!" Lloyd blocked its first swipe with one sword and noted without enthusiasm that he hardly bit into the thing's fur, let alone cutting through its tough hide.
"Gkhaarr," it rumbled. Lloyd froze for a moment, staring wide-eyed into long rows of slavering fangs on jaws that could probably take down a tree in ten seconds flat.
"Colette!" he called. "Together, we can take this thing!" Lloyd's twin swords flared blue-white as he called up the Unison power that Kratos had taught them ages ago on the Ossa Trail. "Tiger Blade!"
He couldn't feel Colette in the union, but she still silently answered the call, hurling a Pow Hammer high into the air. Pow Blade wasn't a fantastic skill, but a few good smacks might slow even this colossus down long enough for him to haul Colette over a shoulder and escape…
The appearance of hammers in his hands could be termed an abject failure– that is, nothing happened. The union ended, and what Lloyd had managed to put together was a slightly nicked wolf-giant with a migraine.
It struck again.
"Oh, bloody He–"