Be Blinded By the Truth

By: General Quistis

Chapter Three: Destined?

It was around eleven in the evening of the same day that Sara had saved Skurai from the clutches of the grim reaper when she felt her stomach grumbling. That was when she realized that she hasn't eaten anything for the whole day. "What was I thinking?! I was too busy taking care of this… this filthy man!" she thought silently while cringing upon observing the sleeping Skurai.

As a matter of fact, she had already fallen asleep while guarding him, but since she felt her stomach grumbling, she had awoken again. She had distanced herself from him because of fear that he might get up in the middle of the night while she's still asleep and try to hurt her or something. But she thought twice about it at the moment she had awoken again due to hunger. "Talatsu was the one who controlled his mind… where is Talatsu anyway?" she thought silently before scanning him from head to toe. She sensed easily that he was not even hiding any weapon at all.

"Did you know that your name means Princess

His voice was echoing in her head, saying those things to her… and she got up in surprise. She thought she heard him say it out loud… again.

But he was asleep. Irritably, she removed her ponytail so that she could lie down properly and placed the band on the floor beside her mattress before plopping down on it again. She frowned in annoyance. "Why is this in my head?!" she irritably pounded on her own forehead before turning to the other side where she could not see him. She was sleeping on another mattress that she had placed on the floor five meters away from him. "Princess… hmf! I'm not even a Princess… well, in a way, I am… but Iris is the rightful heiress…" she thought miserably. "How could my own father do this to me and to my mother?! Because of him, I'm suffering like this… it's all his fault…" her thoughts were interrupted when she saw another image in her head. She clenched her fists when she realized that it was a king…

"Pleasant morning, Titania!" The King greeted his daughter who had just arrived in the dining hall for breakfast.

The Princess did not even say anything. She looked quite annoyed but she was keeping things to herself. As she sat down, the King proceeded to speak, "You have met the person that you are going to marry?"

Changing the subject, she told him, "Skurai and I will be going hunting today. Please do not arrange a tour for your guests around the Kingdom because I won't be able to accompany them."

"You are going to tour the kingdom with your fiancé whether you like it or not!" he replied in protest.

"Fine! But keep him away from me! And I want Skurai to be with me at all times!" she insisted.

But the King shook his head in disapproval, "Your bodyguard will have to stay here. He cannot come with you."

She was surprised by what he had told her. "Wh…what?" she asked in confusion. "But I thought he's my bodyguard! He's supposed to protect me remember?" she demanded with a shaky tone.

"You have your fiancé and his own guards to protect you, my dear…" the King trailed off when she just got up and walked out of the room.

"Titania…"

She closed her eyes, wanting everything to go away.

"Titania,"

"No! Who is Titania!?" she thought angrily.

The voice was still echoing in her head… and it was Skurai's voice. She kept on denying everything that she is still dreaming, but she instantly opened her eyes when she felt a pair of arms embrace her from behind and drew her closer to their owner. She gasped slightly, but she was not able to move as she shivered slightly. "What the--?!" she thought in protest.

Skurai rested his head on her shoulder, breathing against her ear, "You're here…" he whispered softly.

She cringed. "Please let go of me…" she began with a hard but shaky tone.

"Titania…" he repeated softly.

She frowned and clenched her fists before pounding on his hands that were resting on her stomach, "Who the hell is Titania?!" she demanded angrily before she forcibly pulled away from him and immediately crawled out of the mattress. She scurried away from him with a disgusted look on her face as she headed for one corner of the room. When she looked back, she noticed that he was still lying on her mattress on his side, his gaze blank but was still staring at her… and he had this distorted smile on his face which made her feel so uncomfortable. She was not able to move or do anything else until he repeated the name again.

Her frown deepened as she got up in annoyance and rushed out of the room. How dare he call her that way! She felt so insulted.

She had heard that name before, several times in several instances when she was still a little girl… and she could even see the woman who owned the name in her dreams or sometimes, in her daydreams when she would imagine herself as a Princess during childhood…

But those childhood fantasies faded away when she saw her own father murder her mother… however, at that same instant, she could remember feeling the same pain that she had felt at that moment… but it was not clear to her where she experienced it.

Sara reached the garden and gazed around her. Willows were already grazing the area, and there were also some Lunatics jumping around. A Poring accidentally hit her leg, and she instantly looked down to it in annoyance. The Poring moved away from her before she could even try to punch it and squish it into jelly bits. "Hmf!" she grunted before deciding to levitate to the skies, feeling the cold evening breeze against her whole body. Her hair flowed gently against the wind as she gazed down at the whole of Payon.

It looked like a pile of rubble already, but she still noticed that there were still little houses within the Archer Village that seemed to be filled with people. But since she hated feeling reminiscent about her childhood days because it gave her more bad feelings about herself and her fate, she just decided to leave for a while… at least while it is still nighttime.

Chaos stared strangely at the skies. He could somewhat sense that something was wrong, but he could not really determine what it is.

"Chaos," Iris said softly, entering his room at the inn in Geffen. She was surprised to see him still wide-awake and seated on the windowsill. "Still awake?" he asked with a calm smile on her face.

"I can't sleep." She admitted before looking around the room. He saw Loki peacefully slumbering on one of the beds. "Can I come in?" she asked softly.

"Sure. He sleeps like a log anyway." He replied with a silly smile on his face. "Hey, I heard that!" Loki muttered, surprising the two of them.

Silence.

"Pretending to be asleep, eh?" Chaos demanded with a frown on his face. But Loki did not answer anymore. Iris just chuckled lightly as she shut the door carefully and ran over to Chaos and sat down beside him. "Hey, careful. You might fall off. This is the third floor." He warned.

She giggled. "It's alright. I'll hold onto you." She told him.

He just smiled at her before looking up at the skies again. Her gaze softened before looking up too. "So you've noticed it too?" she asked.

"Noticed what?" he asked.

"The skies." She said softly.

He narrowed his eyes at the skies. "What about it?" he asked, wanting to be sure if they have the same observation.

"The skies are clear… there are no clouds… but there is neither moon nor stars in sight." She told him. He frowned slightly. "Yeah…" he bowed down his head. "You think it has something to do with the events that happened today?" he asked.

She just shrugged. "Probably… but…" she sighed heavily before leaning against the windowpane. "I'm worried about our situation. What if Skurai is alive? I mean, it's hard to believe that somebody would even save him, you know?" she asked.

"Someone did save him… and they got away." He began.

"And Talatsu?" she asked.

"I'm not even sure if that nasty sword's still with him… but I hope not." He told her.

Iris thought for a while before shrugging, "Well, who knows? Skurai could be such a nice guy after all, but it's Talatsu that has made him act like a psycho." She pointed out.

"Yes, but…" he looked up at the skies again. "It's like something bigger is coming our way… and it still involves that guy…" he told her.

"How do you know?" she asked curiously.

His frown deepened before gazing down at the ground. "I don't know… but something's telling me that we should be more cautious." Was all he said before shrugging and turning back to Iris, "And what do you think has become of your sister?" he asked.

Iris was surprised by the question. "Well… actually, I have been thinking a lot about her for quite some time already…" she said softly.

"A penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

She chuckled lightly. "Nah… never mind." She told him.

"Come on. Is it a secret that I shouldn't know?" he asked.

She smiled sadly. "I… I just can't figure out why… why she had to do that… why she killed dad…" she said with a sad tone. Chaos looked up at the skies again. "There is a reason for everything…" he said softly.

"But what is the reason behind that?" she asked softly.

Chaos just shrugged.

Sara just stood still under a big tree as she watched a Big Foot pass by and rubbing its nose, trying to get rid of a bothersome bee that's been trying to settle on its nose. She wondered if she should kill it; she could probably get some honey from the Big Foot and then sell it for Zeny.

But what does she need the money for anyway?

She was interrupted when she heard a teleporting sound. She slowly turned her head to her left and narrowed her eyes at Muninn and Huginn who were just staring at her. When she felt bored because the two were not even speaking at first, she looked away and bowed down her head.

"What are you doing here?" Muninn asked her.

"I should ask you the same question." Sara replied rather miserably.

Muninn smiled. "You look depressed." She pointed out.

Sara did not reply. She just watched as a Lunatic approached her foot and looked up at her. She frowned. Muninn observed her reaction to the Lunatic and shook her head. "Sara, Sara, Sara…"

Silence.

"You poor child." Muninn continued.

Sara clenched her fists and turned sharply to her, "I'm no child. I'm not a child anymore." She hissed before walking away, not noticing that the Lunatic was following her.

Muninn smiled at the cute sight of the Lunatic following after Sara Irine… and she noticed that when Sara noticed the Lunatic, she still tried to ignore it. Eventually, Sara got impatient and turned around to face the Lunatic, attempting to kill it (and maybe get some item afterwards after doing so), but she just froze.

She stared at it for a few moments, seeing several flashes of the woman that she kept on seeing in her mind lately. This time, the woman was petting a Lunatic while reading a book. She shook her head in disgust and just turned away.

"You've changed, Sara." Muninn told her.

"I don't need to know." Sara muttered.

"Why don't you kill that?" she asked.

Sara just turned to face them again and stomped her foot angrily, driving the Lunatic away. "Can't you just leave me alone?!" she yelled angrily before she turned to run away.

Muninn and Huginn just watched her before turning to the direction where the residence of the Irines are. There was something going on in there. "It's starting," Muninn said simply.

Huginn just nodded.

Sara just kept on running until she stopped by a cliff overlooking another forest leading to Alberta. She just stared at the city lights far from her before she decided to sit down to rest for a while. All the running exhausted her and all she wanted to do was rest because she had been tired and lacking of sleep for the whole day already because she had to take care of some bothersome cursed prosecutor named Skurai. "Hmf… if Freya didn't order it, I wouldn't do it," she thought silently to herself.

All of a sudden, she just heard something rustling from behind her. She instantly got up and there was Muninn again with Huginn… but this time, she was holding a sword.

Sara had never seen such a sword before and she wondered where it came from and what it's called. She narrowed her eyes at the two. "What is it that you want from me? Why don't you just leave me alone?" she asked, clenching her fists.

Muninn approached her and handed her the sword. "Don't think that we don't know anything about Freya's plans about the Cursed Prosecutor. But if you want Skurai to be useful for your Mistress, you'd better give him a sword." She said.

"Skurai doesn't need a new sword. He has Talatsu…" Sara began defensively, but trailed off when she recalled that Talatsu wasn't even with Skurai when she brought him to Payon. "Where is Talatsu anyway?" she thought silently as she carefully took the sword.

"That sword is called the Masamune." Muninn told her while watching her scan the sword's blade carefully with her eyes. Sara gently touched the tip of the blade and swallowed hard. "Masamune?" she asked.

Muninn just smiled at her before signaling for Huginn to go ahead and leave. Huginn disappeared, and she followed, leaving Sara all puzzled. "What if this is a trap?" she thought before deciding to try out the sword.

She ended up going straight to the deepest part of the Payon Forest, searching for Sohees and Big Foots, killing them off with the Masamune. She enjoyed the way it seemed to slice and penetrate through everything… even the toughest trunk of the trees. She laughed in delight, feeling light-headed… and when she got tired, she stopped and just decided to rest. She sat down underneath a tree being illuminated by the moonlight. She was panting hard as she leaned back against the tree, feeling her depression coming back again. "Depression?" she thought silently.

Her heart felt so heavy as she stared at the sword on her hand. There was no blood, even though she could clearly remember slaying those Big Foots before she even had the sword, and it was so bloody she had to clean herself thoroughly. But with that new sword that was supposed to be given to Skurai, there was no blood on the blade or the hilt. She curiously put down the sword and sighed heavily, feeling more tired than usual. "I wonder what he's doing now…" she whispered softly before her eyelids finally gave up on her and she gently closed her eyes, breathing in the cool night air. With that, the Valkyrie fell asleep.

She was not even aware that she had fallen asleep because of fatigue, and when she started to dream, she did not know what to do anymore; whether to stay in the dream or not.

In the dream, she was wearing a white long dress fit for a Princess… and she was holding a flower ring.

"Titania," said a voice from behind her.

She turned around and smiled. "Skurai," and ran towards him. She placed the flower ring on top of his head and giggled. He blushed slightly, feeling embarrassed upon having such a crown of flowers on top of his head.

In that dream, they were in a big flower field… and it seemed so vast and endless. She turned away to look around the whole area… and he embraced her from behind and whispered in her ear…

Sara slowly opened her eyes when she heard birds chirping from above her… she instantly moved away before one of those birds could poop on her head. She frustratingly got up and got the Masamune while gazing around. It was already morning. "Hmf…" she uttered softly in disdain before deciding to go back to the town proper to check on Skurai in the Irine Residence.

Upon arriving in Payon Town, she was surprised to find the whole Town fully restored… and it looked just like before when she was still a little girl. Her mouth slightly dropped open as she gaped in awe at the restored town. "What happened here?" she thought as she ran towards the Payon Castle. She entered the Castle and looked around…

Memories from her childhood flooded her thoughts and she fought the urge to smile bitterly. Those were such happy times…

At present, the ceilings looked a bit lower and the space around her didn't seem so big anymore. Probably because the last time she had gazed on those things inside the Castle was when she was still a little girl… and her father would carry her up on his shoulders so that she could touch the ceiling. "One day you'll be tall too, Sara, my little Princess," she recalled Lord Irine telling her.

She looked up at the ceiling and stared blankly at them. "Bullshit." She cussed before proceeding to the room where she had left Skurai. She had a hard time locating it, but after a while, she realized where it was because she heard something crash.

When she arrived at the room, she was surprised to find him sprawled on the floor and struggling to get up. The basin of water had toppled over and had wet the floor. She instantly let go of the sword and marched towards him with an annoyed look on her face. She helped him up, dragging him back to the bed. "You stupid. You fell off." she snapped at him.

He grudgingly looked up at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked rather harshly. She was surprised at him but she laughed victoriously. "Ahahaha! Finally you've returned to your senses." She told him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You were hallucinating last night. You called me names that I don't even know of…" she trailed off when she recalled her dream.

He frowned, but he wasn't even looking at her all this time… and when he did look up at her, his eyes slightly widened as he gazed up into her eyes.

She just pushed him back onto the bed, letting his head hit the soft pillow rather carelessly that he almost bumped against the headboard. She turned away and went back to the door where she had dropped the sword. He stared in awe at her. "What is your name?" he asked.

"Man, he sounds different without Talatsu possessing him…" she was thinking before replying, "Sara." She picked up the sword and turned back to face him. "Do you know your name?" she asked mindlessly, wanting to make sure that he is conscious of what is happening.

"Of course I know my name… I'm Skurai… and you are?" he asked.

"Weren't you paying attention? I told you my name's Sara." She snapped impatiently before putting down the sword on the ground beside the bed.

He just looked away and looked at his hand, then touched his head, raking his fingers through his hair. "Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in Payon Castle… once home to the Irines… and now it's mine." She told him airily before sitting down on the bed. "I saved you from Chaos and his friends. You were badly injured." She told him with a stiff look on her face.

"I… was?" he asked. He paused for a while as everything started to return to his memory… including the old, old events when she died.

She…

His eyes widened and turned back to her. "Where is she?" he asked.

"Who?" she asked.

He swallowed hard and just clutched his head in despair. "No… she's lost…" he muttered to himself as he clenched his teeth in annoyance.
She did not know what he was talking about but she just shrugged to herself, thinking "Since Freya wants me to gain control over him…" and she proceeded verbally, "Whoever the hell you're talking about, she can be yours and you'll find her again. I'll even help you…"

He looked at her unbelievably.

She smiled slyly at her, the look in her eyes letting him know that she is giving him a condition. "Only if you stay here with me. I will help you recover…" she picked up the Masamune and handed it to him. "…and this is yours." She told him.

He just stared at her, then at the sword. "What do you need me for?" he asked.

"Call it an act of kindness. Besides, do you really think that people will still accept you after what you have done against them?" she asked slyly.

He just narrowed his eyes at her before he carefully got the sword and examined it. "What is your role in Payon?" he asked.

She thought for a while before replying, "Princess."

"Princess,"

She looked behind her and saw him. She smiled happily and ran to him, embracing him tightly. "Oh Skurai…" she said softly.

He smiled lovingly at her. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes. I am. Just a little weary from the traveling this afternoon." She replied.

"Well then, why don't you rest now?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. I want to talk to you about a lot of things." She said.

"What about?" he asked curiously. She let go of him and went over to her balcony, sitting down on the railing. "Well, you are a Crusader, right?" she asked.

"Y…yes," he replied as he approached her, feeling nervous about the way she was seated on the railing. She could easily fall if she wasn't careful in maintaining her own balance.

"Tell me stories about your travels!" she told him happily.

He smiled gently at her. "Alright, Princess…"

"Princess?" he repeated, sending her out of her sudden trance at the mention of the noun. She just swallowed hard, acting natural, "Yes." She got up. "And since you're here and I might be having a hard time attending to you and to my duties, you will have to repay my kindness by working as my bodyguard." She told him.

What she had just said struck something into her… and it made her heart skip a beat.

Skurai had the same reaction…

"From now on you will become Princess Titania's royal bodyguard."

He gazed into Sara's eyes and then frowned. "I don't think so," he said, turning away. She frowned at him, "And why not?" she asked.

"I have sworn my allegiance to another Princess and I cannot serve you the way I have served her…" he stated flatly, although he could sense that such an excuse wouldn't be valid enough for Sara. This wasn't the first time he encountered her. He himself had known that she is powerful herself… and since he is still weak, it could be possible that she could just do whatever she wants to him and kill him in an instant if she pleases. Sara's frown deepened and her mouth formed a pout that she did not expect. "But she is not here. And you are under my care. And remember, I told you that if you work with me, you can see her again." she told him sternly, but she was thinking silently, "Whoever the hell his princess is. Screw her. She's giving me a hard time convincing this damn guy… if I don't succeed, Freya will get mad at me…"

He stared unbelievably at her. "Why me?" he asked rather helplessly as he sat up straight.

She just gazed blankly at him. "Because Freya said so." And she got up to leave. "Wait a moment, Sara," he called out, making her stop in her tracks, although she did not turn to face him. He realized what he had just said, and out of mockery, he just said, "I mean, your Majesty."

She turned around to look at him with coldness in her eyes. "Yes, you monster?" she asked.

Ouch.

Somehow, it really pierced through his heart. He was aware that he had caused death to many individuals, even the innocent ones… but there was nothing he was able to do against it since he was being controlled by Talatsu. And speaking of Talatsu, where did that sword go?

He just regained his composure and frowned at her, "What does Freya want?" he asked.

"Nothing. She just wants me to take care of you because I am a kind person." She said simply with an arrogant air.

"But… why me?" he asked.

She placed the tip of her index finger on her mouth, thinking in a graceful gesture, and then smiled at him again. She answered sarcastically, "Well, we must be destined to meet like this."

He stared unbelievably at her.

She turned away, and the way she did so made him see another person in her… and his eyes widened upon doing so. Her smile faded and her facial expression turned cold once more the moment she was not facing him anymore. "Call it destiny." She muttered before she finally got out of the room, living him there to ponder about what had just happened and what he had just heard from her.

He looked down at the Masamune, staring at its blade for a long time before putting it aside. "What about Talatsu? I need that sword… Talatsu will lead me to find her again…" he was thinking silently.