Be Blinded By the Truth
By: General Quistis
Disclaimer: Ragnarok manwah and Online do not belong to me. They all belong to Myung-Jin Lee.
Author's Notes: Hey, this is just a fic alright? No hard feelings! I'm pretty sure this won't be in the manwah ever (like duh)... but since I'm one of those very few people who tend to like odd couples like Sara and Skurai... well here you go. I hope you understand. If you don't, then bother somebody else. I don't need to hear from you how absurd and unorthodox these two are. And you'll just be wasting your time telling me off.
Chapter Four: A Few Disputes
Since Sara was surprised at the reconstruction of the whole town, she just walked out of the castle and headed to the town proper. Everything seemed... alive.
Just like in her childhood...
"What is Freya thinking?" she was muttering to herself as she watched children playing in the streets and merchants going about their daily business... also the other residents. "I thought they're all dead?" she thought in awe as she scanned the whole place and all the people that she could see along the way as she continued her way around Payon.
A few had even stopped to greet her, "Good morning, your majesty! How are you doing today?"
"Wh...what?" she had replied at first. Your majesty?
"Princess Sara! How's your father?" one of the residents asked her.
She was surprised by the question. "Wh...what are you talking about?" she had managed to ask in confusion. "What is Freya thinking!" she thought again. How come all the dead had come back to life... and Payon, which, supposedly had been destroyed and in irreplaceable ruins, had been reconstructed and had come back to life? Sure she could remember the plan that Payon is to be restored, but she never really thought that when Freya said restored, it would mean that the dead should also be there...
"Then... if so..." she stopped her thoughts and she frowned. "Mother..." she whispered hoarsely. She rushed towards the place where her mother's house once stood... the place where she witnessed the terrible murder of her own mother several years ago when she was still a little girl. "If so... Mother could be alive..." she thought with a hopeful look in her eyes. Her heart pounded in joy as she continued to run, but her facial expression remained aloof, puzzling all the citizens that saw her pass by as she made her way to her mother's house...
She stopped by the door of the house, panting hard and trying to catch her breath. She fought the urge to smile. What if it was all a lie?
A dream?
She opened the door and yelled, "Mother!"
Silence.
A woman resembling her younger half-sister Iris sat by a table and doing some embroidery. The woman just stared unbelievably at her. "Hello Sara," she greeted softly, her eyes wide upon seeing her.
Sara just gaped at her.
It was Iris's mother.
The woman smiled sadly at her, "Have you seen my daughter?" she asked softly.
Sara just bit her lower lip in disdain as she swallowed hard and stepped backward, completely stepping out of the house and slamming the door shut. She couldn't find the words to say anything, but she was so confused... "What is going on? What is she doing in my mother's house?" she thought to herself, feeling more confused than before. She began to hyperventilate; she wanted to go back to Freya and ask her questions regarding her current situation... and what has it got to do with Skurai. Mindlessly, she just ran and ran until she reached the forest going to Alberta, and at some instant, she just kept on yelling, "Mama! Mama! Mama where are you?"
And then everything turned black...
oOoOo
"Sara," said a gentle but stern voice.
Sara Irine opened her eyes when she recognized the voice. It was Freya speaking to her... but she couldn't see well... it's like she's in a dream. She couldn't even move, but she knew that she was lying on a bed in a very big room. "M...mistress..." she struggled to say.
She felt someone touch her face. "Hush my dear." Freya told her.
Sara just swallowed hard and she closed her eyes. "I... I am here?" she asked.
Freya did not answer. Sara opened her eyes once more and she saw a lady smiling at her, although she couldn't see clearly. "Wh...why?" she asked.
The Goddess just smiled further, "Because it's what your heart desires. Therefore, I'm giving it to you." and she waved a hand over Sara's eyes. "Now close your eyes so you may not be blind..."
Sara's eyelids felt so heavy and soon, she found them closing on their own. She eased up a bit.
"There is something that you must know..." she heard the Goddess say...
oOoOo
"Sara,"
There is something that you must know...
"Sara," repeated an awfully familiar voice. She slowly opened her eyes and the first face she saw was her mother's. She gasped in shock as she instantly sat up, gaping at her mother. "M...mama?" she had managed to say.
Lady Irine stared curiously at her. "Yes?" she asked.
Sara shifted her gaze to the man standing behind her. It was Lord Irine, her father. He had a very worried look on his face. "You gave us quite a fright, my dear." he told her.
Sara just stared unbelievably at them as she felt shivers run down her spine. She clutched the blanket tightly against herself and moved away from them.
"Careful dear, you might fall off the bed," Lady Irine said with concern as she touched her daughter's hand. Sara shivered at the touch. "M...Mama?" she asked, looking at her mother with teary eyes. She couldn't help but cry.
Lord Irine went to the other side of the bed and guided Sara away from the edge of the bed so that she wouldn't fall, "Sara, what has happened to you?" he asked.
Sara turned to her father with a confused look in her eyes, trying her best not to weep. She was filled with mixed emotions of joy, sadness, pain and anger.
"You told us you'd go around town, but then you just ran into the forest!" Lord Irine told her.
"Yes, dear. Some good citizens confirmed that they saw you and you looked ill. They reported you to us and so your father set out to the forest with some of our guards and they found you by the forest near Alberta." her mother explained.
Sara just blinked.
"Are you feeling alright, dear?" Lord Irine asked.
Childhood memories began to flood Sara's thoughts... memories of her loving mother and then her father that had murdered her... She just nodded and smiled, bursting into tears, embracing her mother and her father at the same time. She felt so happy. "This is not a dream... this is real!" she was thinking.
Lord Irine and her mother exchanged confused glances with one another regarding how their daughter was acting. "You're alive... Mama? Papa?" she asked curiously.
"What? Sara, what kind of question is that?" Lord Irine asked in confusion.
Lady Irine just embraced her daughter tightly. "Sara dearest... you must've hit your head hard on the ground when you fell! Are you sure you're alright?" she asked.
Sara nodded. "Yes, I'm alright..." she said softly. But then again, what if she's just dreaming?
"Next time, we won't allow you to leave the Castle without your bodyguard." Lord Irine told her.
Sara let go of them and stared unbelievably at him. "Wh...what?" she asked.
"Too bad he's sick so he couldn't go with you today. But next time, we won't allow you to leave without anyone with you!" he told her sternly.
"But I..." Sara began, but Lord Irine hushed her, "Dear, your mother and I know that you can defend yourself... but the world is very dangerous and we only want the best for our Princess!" he told her gently with a reassuring smile.
Sara just stared at him and it took a while before she had managed to speak up again, "Bodyguard?" she asked.
"He's in the next room." her mother told her.
oOoOo
Around sunset, when she knew she had enough strength and courage to go to the other room to look, she tiptoed her way to the other room. She could remember placing Skurai in the Masters' bedroom; does that mean that they transferred him to a new one beside her own room?
She opened the door and looked inside.
Skurai turned around from looking outside the window, looking at her. He just frowned at her. "Sara?" he asked, wanting to make sure.
She frowned at him as she stepped inside and shut the door. His eyes looked at her from head to toe in amazement, and she wondered why. "What are you looking at..." she trailed off when she passed by a full-length mirror and saw that she's wearing a long white dress... and in one of her dreams about that woman named Titania, the same woman was also wearing the same dress. She stared at her own reflection in the mirror. Her hair wasn't tied up in a ponytail anymore; instead, it hung loosely over her shoulders and down past her buttocks. Her own long and wavy locks amused her for a reason that she couldn't understand. How long had she been tying it up in a ponytail anyway and she failed to realize that her hair had grown that long already?
"Why the hell am I dressed like this?" she demanded out loud in annoyance. She felt a bit disgusted.
"I should ask you the same question," Skurai pointed out in awe.
The two fell silent as they stared at one another in confusion. "I remember you killing your father." he told her.
"Well you were also in the scene of the crime, Skurai. So basically, we killed him." she corrected with a stiff look on her face.
"But... he's here?" he asked.
Sara clutched her head in confusion. "And Payon has been restored." she stated flatly.
"Is this a joke?" Skurai asked.
"I don't know... it's all a part of Freya's plans and..." she stopped herself from going further. He narrowed his eyes on her as he approached with a threatening gaze. She just stood still and stared warningly at him, clenching her fists as he came closer and then stopped and grabbed her chin, holding it up until she was looking into his eyes in annoyance. "Unhand me," she sneered.
"Alright, woman, what are you planning to do to me?" he asked her.
"You can consider me as the key to what you're searching for so you'd better start treating me with respect because if you anger the Goddess, she might change her mind and let you die." she told him.
He just clenched his teeth as he eyed her scornfully before letting her go. He drew his sword, the Masamune, and pointed its tip towards her neck, but he did not say anything. Sara just stared blankly at him. And then she smiled slyly at him... and she just drew her sword, letting it clash against his. She was in a fighting stance, staring warningly at him.
He was quiet for a few moments before shrugging. "Fine." and turned away, but he stopped when he felt the blade of her sword gently rest upon his shoulder. He just narrowed his eyes and stood still, staring blankly straight ahead. "So you want to play, huh?" he asked before turning swiftly around once more, his sword clashing against hers. He attempted to make her sword fly out of her grasp, but she had a very strong grip. She just stared blankly at him while he was smiling rather sadistically at her.
And they had a duel.
Skurai realized how good she was with the sword, and she was thinking that he isn't really that weak anymore and he had recovered much of his strength. "I could possibly have fun using this man to fully train myself and make myself more useful as a warrior for Freya." she thought silently but still keeping a poker-faced expression.
Skurai was laughing in delight, taking pleasure in having a swordfight with her. "Ahahahahaha! You're good at this, aren't you?" he asked with an excited tone in his voice, amazed at how Sara was able to avoid or block even his very unpredictable attacks and unexpected attacks. Then they stopped when they sensed someone approaching the room from outside. They exchanged looks with one another; Skurai licking his lower lip indicating to her of his desire to fight with her again. She just made a face at him, as if telling him that even if they have another swordfight, he would never win against her.
With that, they parted ways. Sara went over to the window and placed her sword by the windowpane and pretended to be interested in gazing outside at the already-darkening skies, while Skurai went back to his bed, hid the Masamune under it and lied down.
The door slowly opened and Lady Irine stepped inside with a worried look on her face, "Skurai, have you seen..." she trailed off when she realized that her daughter is just standing by the window. She sighed in relief as she approached her daughter, "Oh Sara, there you are! I thought you were in your room but when I went there to call you for dinner, the bed was empty! I got so worried," she explained.
Sara could see Skurai sneering at her from her peripheral vision, so she clenched her fist visible to him to serve as a warning as she spoke to her mother, "I feel better now, Mama, so I went here to his room to check on him... and we had a little talk," she explained.
Lady Irine turned to look at Skurai. He just smiled fakely at her. She blinked before turning to her daughter with a disturbed look on her face and whispered, "I don't know why your father chose him to become your bodyguard, but that black eyeliner and the black lipstick just doesn't seem to work pretty well here in Payon. He scares the citizens whenever he's walking around even when he's with you!"
Sara laughed, her blue eyes dancing in delight at what her mother had just said. Her laughter sounded somewhat heavenly but sinister, the kind of laughter that had made Skurai think that she's faking it. He just stared at her, observing the loving way she smiled at her mother as she said, "Don't worry, mama. As long as he's doing his job well, it's alright."
The way she smiled at her mother brought back some memories in his thoughts... and his facial expression softened a little and he somewhat fell into a solemn trance as he gazed further into her eyes...
He turned to the Princess. She looked up at him and smiled lovingly at him. "The stars are lovely tonight, don't you think?" she asked softly.
"Skurai," Sara said stiffly, making him snap out of his trance and jerk slightly in the process. She was already standing by the side of his bed and staring down coldly at him with a stoic expression on her face. He blinked in awe and looked outside the window. The sun had completely set already. How long had he been "out"?
He looked up at her again. She still maintained her cold exterior even as she said, "Dinner."
oOoOo
As they were walking down the hallway going to the dining hall, he was looking at her with a curious look on his face. "Don't you ever smile at everyone else except for your own mother?" he asked with a mocking tone.
She just ignored the question.
He examined her from head to toe, and since he's taller than her, he could perfectly observe her from above... not to mention, observing the top of her head... and then looking down at her cleavage.
Sara sensed this so she sped up a little until she went ahead of him. Her face looked flushed and she had a stiff but disgusted look on her face. "Will you stop staring at me!" she snapped.
He laughed at her, "I'm not staring at you!" he told her.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire..." she muttered.
They made it to the dining hall and saw that Lord Irine and Lady Irine were already there. Sara took her seat and watched in disgust as Skurai walked over to his post by the window. He seems to know his duties as a bodyguard to a Princess like her and she wondered how. "Isn't he going to join us for dinner?" Lady Irine asked, referring to Skurai.
Sara and Lord Irine turned to Skurai. The latter smiled at him, "Care to join us, boy?" he asked kindly.
"Thank you, kind sir, but I'm still on-duty. I shall have my dinner later on." Skurai responded, but he sounded like he was mocking. Sara just kept still and looked away.
"No, I insist, young man." Lord Irine told him.
Skurai looked at Sara before deciding to sit with the family as requested by Lord Irine.
oOoOo
Lord Irine and Lady Irine shared most of the conversation while Sara and Skurai spent the whole dinner time just staring warningly at one another while eating.
After dinner, Sara went straight to the gardens, ditching Skurai. When she arrived there, she sighed in relief. "Privacy at last..." she thought to herself. She wanted to go back to Freya but for some reason, she could not... like all possible portals where a Valkyrie like her could pass from the human world to the world of the gods had been blocked... or maybe it's just in her case.
Frustrated, she just decided to stroll within the area, looking up at the starry skies and wondering what really happened. "What does Freya want? Did she really plan for this to happen?" she thought silently.
Of course, everything should be perfect as what Freya wants, and she really did not want to ask more questions, so she just decided to go with the flow. After all, what's the harm in doing so? If Freya says so, it shall be put into action. No questions asked.
Sighing, she leaned against the trunk of a big tree and observed as a small Lunatic approached her. She could remember that it was the same Lunatic that had followed her the other night when Muninn gave her the Masamune. "How did you get in here?" she asked out loud as she bent down to pick it up, assuming that no one else was watching her because she doesn't like it when other people see her showing compassion for another living creature such as an animal. She cradled it in her arms gently. "You're so adorable..." she stated flatly, although she remained poker-faced.
"You know, what you had just said could be much more convincing if you smiled." she heard someone say from above her... Her eyes widened and the Lunatic jumped off from her grasp as she looked up. There was Skurai seated on one of the stable branches of the tree. She frowned at him. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Just doing my job, Princess," he said mockingly before motioning for her to climb up the tree and sit beside him. "Care to join me here?" he asked.
"In this dress? No way." she told him before looking straight ahead again, feeling so disgusted. Why is she wearing that horrible dress all of a sudden anyway?
Maybe because Princesses are required to dress up that way...
She snorted. "Well then tomorrow, I'm back to my old outfit. This is so unbecoming of me... unless Freya designed the events and it requires me to dress up like this...?" she thought silently to herself.
"So, Princess, I'm really looking forward to another duel with you." he told her coolly.
"Well I'm not in the mood tonight. And stop calling me Princess; it sickens me because it's obvious that you're just mocking me everytime you call me that." she sneered.
He just laughed at her. "But if your mommy and daddy heard me calling you Sara, they might get mad at me and punish me for being disrespectful." he told her.
She just kept quiet. "Please leave me alone," she thought miserably. She felt so tired already but she had nowhere else to go.
"You're boring me. Can't you speak?" he told her frankly with an annoyed tone. She just kept quiet and walked away from him, deciding to just go back inside the Castle.
He just smiled slyly as he watched her. "Tsk, tsk, tsk... can't express your anger well, huh?" he called out, but she just ignored his remark.
He was about to follow her but he froze when he heard someone calling his name,
Skurai...
His eyes widened in awe. The voice was so familiar. He looked around with a skeptical look on his face, "Talatsu?"
Find me, Skurai...
"But..." he trailed off when he felt his head ache. "Ah..." he winced in pain as he clutched his forehead. "Shit..." he cursed.
Find me, Skurai, before they do...
He did not move. He just sat there, weighing the consequences of what Talatsu is telling him to do.
Ahahaha... what poison has entered your brain because of that woman, huh? They are just using you. I am the one who can truly help you; not Freya and definitely not Sara Irine. Now get out of there and do as I tell you.
Skurai frowned slightly, thinking twice... and he jumped down from the tree.
oOoOo
Loki looked up and then scanned the starry sky. His frown deepened as he got up from the rock where he was seated.
"Anything wrong?" Fenris asked him, sensing that he is able to feel that something is not right.
Chaos looked up from the bonfire that he had just created and scanned the looks on Fenris and Loki's faces. They just got out of Geffen and now they were traveling again, but they ended up getting lost for a while before they could reach the next city or town, and since nighttime closed in quicker than they could even imagine, they were just forced to camp out there.
A cool breeze began to blow and Iris shivered. Sessy could feel her fur standing to its ends. "Meowrrr... it's too cold all of a sudden!" she remarked as she jumped onto Lydia's arms, wanting to be hugged. Lydia just looked around, feeling nervous all of a sudden. "Eh... guys, I think we should leave this place, I don't feel so good about this..." she stated flatly.
Loki turned around and stared straight ahead. Fenris followed his gaze and thought, "It's there..."
And they both ran towards it.
"Hey! Where are you going!" Iris cried out in surprise as she instantly got up. Chaos got up in a hurry and followed after Loki and Fenris. "I think they sensed it too!" he told Iris and Lydia.
"What! What did they sense?" Lydia asked in confusion as she got up, letting go of Sessy.
"C'mon let's go follow them!" Iris told her as she ran...
oOoOo
Sara opened her eyes, disturbed from her sleep, when she heard two crows making noises outside her bedroom window. She knew it was already late at night, but she still struggled to get up, wanting to shoo the birds away. She walked over to the window and opened it, but the two crows flew inside her room and landed on her floor... and transformed.
She frowned in annoyance. "Muninn and Huginn." she muttered.
Muninn smiled gently at her, "Pleasant evening, child." she greeted.
Sara just stared blankly at them with a sleepy look on her face as Muninn scanned her from head to toe, "You look very lovely in that silk dress. It's so fit for a Princess like you," she pointed out.
"What do you want?" Sara demanded impatiently.
Muninn looked towards the door, "Looks like you failed to say goodnight to your bodyguard tonight, huh?" she asked.
By saying that, Sara sensed that something was already wrong... and she instantly ran outside, leaving the two beholders there and going straight to Skurai's bedroom. When she entered, there was no one there. She decided to go downstairs to the gardens where she last saw him for the night, but he was nowhere to be found there. Worried that he might have escaped (and this could ruin Freya's plans, whatever they are), she decided to go back to her room, grabbed her Sword of Retribution, and then went outside the Castle without anyone seeing her. She made her way out of the city and straight into the forest. She stopped in her tracks when Muninn and Huginn appeared before her. "Where are you going, Princess Sara? It's late at night!" Muninn told her rather teasingly.
Sara just clenched her fists. "Take me to Skurai." she said in a voice that sounded like an angry hiss. She was beginning to get impatient.
With that, the two transformed into crows and flew off. Sara followed where they went...
oOoOo
Fenris caught up with Loki. "Who is it?" she asked.
He did not answer. He just continued to run and to stare straight ahead.
And they stopped when they heard hacking noises and familiar-sounding forest monsters wailing...
"It's that fiend." Loki told her with a low tone.
Fenris was right all along... it was Skurai.
They slowly proceeded and finally, the Cursed Prosecutor came into view. Fenris was in awe to see that he was perfectly alive... and he seemed stronger too.
Chaos, Iris and Lydia caught up with the two. "What is that doing here, still alive!" Chaos demanded in annoyance.
"Shhh!" Fenris hushed him.
Skurai stopped, licking his lips as he turned his gaze to the direction where he sensed some familiar auras. He was holding Talatsu and the sword was clearly twitching, pointing towards the direction where Chaos and the rest are located.
"Over there, Skurai... they're there..." Talatsu was telling him.
Skurai was about to obey, but he stopped when he heard someone shout his name from behind him. "Skurai!" his eyes widened upon hearing the voice. He slowly turned around, "Titania?"
"No! You must obey me!" Talatsu snapped at him. Skurai froze and turned back to the direction where Chaos were.
"Titania?" Iris asked curiously with a whispery tone.
Lydia blinked, seeing the person who just arrived; the one who called Skurai's name as if to stop him. "Isn't that the Valkyrie?" she asked in awe.
Chaos narrowed his eyes at Sara who had just arrived. He raised his eyebrow at her, "Why is she here?" he thought.
"Why is she wearing that?" Iris asked in awe, seeing that her half-sister was wearing other clothes besides her own... and it was a long flowing silk dress fit for a Princess. She could recall herself also having one of those when she was still in Payon, but now she knows that the dress could've been destroyed along with the city too.
Sara frowned when she saw the dreaded sword in Skurai's grasp. "What are you doing with that sword?" she demanded.
Skurai turned to her when Talatsu moved by itself, shaking slightly to her direction.
"Since she's nearer, maybe she could make an interesting kill for now..." the sword told him.
Skurai just stood still, looking at her from head to toe... and his facial expression softened a little upon remembering someone of the same height and the same features, except that Sara had darker skin...
Impatiently, she approached him and attempted to grab the sword away from him, but he resisted. "NO! You can't have Talatsu..." he snapped at her, his demented look returning to his face.
She clenched her teeth. "Skurai, I'm losing my patience with you!" she snapped angrily.
Talatsu seemed to have a mind of its own and it just swung itself towards Sara. Luckily for her, she was able to immediately dodge the swinging attack, but it cut her slightly on her left wrist. She winced in pain.
Talatsu rejoiced. "I wasn't mistaken when I thought that her blood is wonderful..." he told Skurai. "...now, Skurai, I want you to kill her for me... make me penetrate through her... I cannot simply resist someone with that kind of blood." he instructed.
Skurai just smiled at Sara, watching her struggle to stop the bleeding on her wrist. "You just increased Talatsu's appetite, Princess." he told her with a sleek tone that sent shivers down her spine.
Chaos frowned slightly. "Is he on her side?" he asked.
"If he is, how come he wants to kill her?" Fenris told him.
Iris watched in awe as Sara tried to defend herself from Skurai. She continued to block his attacks with her own sword, but she was beginning to get distracted because of her wound. "Damn... stop this insolence of yours, Skurai!" Sara told him angrily, still exerting much effort in trying to keep Talatsu from touching any part of her body and let it cut her. She would never lose to that horrible sword whose existence seem to depend on just feeding on the blood of people it would be able to kill while using its wielder to get what it wants. Unfortunately, Skurai was the one with a weakness that Talatsu was able to control for its own sick purpose.
"Accursed sword... what do you want from him?" Sara was thinking angrily while keeping her eye on Talatsu. Talatsu seemed to be laughing at her and she hated it. The attacks became quicker and she was losing her concentration.
"Is she losing?" Lydia asked curiously.
"She's losing too much blood... if this continues, she'll really get it." Loki murmured.
Iris began to feel nervous. She recalled her father's words, telling her, "You must never hate your sister no matter what happens..."
And to her friends' surprise, she jumped out of the bushes, and with her Rune cards she chanted an incantation in her head and threw the cards at Talatsu, as if trying to disable his curse on Skurai.
The sword began to go berserk.
"Iris what are you doing?" Chaos demanded as he jumped out of the bush, following her.
Iris just stood still, watching Talatsu struggle for control on Skurai. They thought they heard it scream angrily at her, words so hurtful that she wouldn't even want to remember anymore. Sara clenched her fists. "What are you doing here?" she demanded from Iris.
Iris tried to smile nicely at her older sister, but the way Sara looked at her made her take a step backward, as if suddenly regretful of helping her... but something deep inside her made her feel a bit proud because she helped her sister. "S...Sara, I..." she began.
Skurai wailed in agony. There was this unexplainable and excruciating pain in his head that he couldn't control. He was still holding onto Talatsu... and he began go berserk, eyeing Sara with so much wrath in his eyes.
Sara clutched her sword even more tightly as she charged at him. "Let go of that goddamn thing!" she snarled angrily as she wielded her Sword of Retribution against Talatsu, and her force was too strong that she was able to make him let go of it. Talatsu flew off from his grasp, landing somewhere far away from him.
Skurai stopped screaming and he just collapsed on the ground without warning. Chaos and the others just stared in awe at him, wondering what had just happened to him, but before one of them could do anything else, Sara rushed over to him, knelt down beside him and touched his neck, trying to feel for a pulse. She frowned slightly. "Good. He's still alive..." she thought to herself before glaring at Iris.
Iris just smiled kindly at her, "A...Are you alright, Sara?" she asked weakly as she slowly approached her sister with caution. "You're bleeding... can I help--?" she trailed off when Sara sneered at her, "Stay back! I don't want any of you coming near me, do you understand?" she retorted harshly.
"Whoa, hold on a minute, what are you doing with Skurai anyway?" Chaos asked her rather stubbornly.
"It's none of your business." Sara told him nonchalantly as she struggled to drag Skurai with her and then teleported with him, leaving the others behind.
"That's... strange..." Lydia stated in awe.
Iris bowed down her head, feeling so disappointed at herself.
"So they're already working together..." Fenris began.
"I don't think so." Loki told them. All eyes turned to him before he proceeded, "Sara seems to be protecting him... and he seems to be retaliating with Talatsu controlling his mind. But without Talatsu, he seems... harmless?" he was not sure.
Iris swallowed hard. "Where do you think she went with him?" she asked.
"And why the hell is she wearing such a pretty dress? Where did she get that anyway?" Lydia asked in curiosity.
Iris thought for a while before shrugging. "I once had one of those in Payon... but I guess it's destroyed now." she said softly. She looked so disappointed. Fenris patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about your sister, Iris. I'm sure she'll be alright." she assured.
Chaos looked around, scanning their surroundings. "Where do you think did the sword land?" he asked.
"Don't tell me you want to go looking for such a horrible sword?" Lydia demanded in disbelief.
"Well... we could find some use for it... Heh heh..." Chaos said with a weak smile on his face.
"I don't think it's such a good idea..." Fenris told him.
"I want to know where Sara is... maybe Talatsu knows it." Iris declared before turning to Chaos. "C'mon, let's go look for it!" she said cheerfully before leading the way. Chaos followed after her, "Y'know, I think Fenris is right..." he began, but she was persistent.
oOoOo
Skurai was dreaming.
In the dream, he was injured because he just arrived from battle, and Titania was treating his wounds.
It was a very lovely dream for him because he's able to see her again. If only he could just remain asleep forever and dream about her... so that he could finally be with her even if it's only in his dreams. However, she seems to be more distant to him whenever he's trying to touch her in his dreams. He would ask why, but she would just smile at him and would not even say anything else about the situation.
When he insisted, she opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. She just let him lie down on his bed, and then sat down on the floor by the bed. She smiled one last time before resting her head on the bed and fell asleep. He was about to touch her...
But he woke up.
The dream was over.
Skurai had opened his eyes and he was gazing at the dark ceiling above him. He turned to the window and saw that it was still nighttime, but he was not sure what time it was... probably three in the morning due to the silence he would usually notice at that time of dawn.
Turning to his side, on the place where Titania was in his dream, he was surprised to find Sara in the same position as Titania's. She was asleep just like Titania in his dream. He thought of touching her, thinking that she might also disappear if he did so... but when he did, she just remained there.
He could recall what had happened earlier and he felt annoyed at her for disrupting Talatsu's plans. "If she didn't interfere, Titania could've been here again..." he was thinking as he forcefully grabbed her left wrist, shaking her violently to wake her up. "Hey, you bitch. Wake up!" he snarled at her.
She moved a little, but she seemed weak. She raised her tired gaze at him. "Hmm?" she moaned slightly as he released her. She struggled to sit up straight, but she just fell back on the ground. Skurai raised an eyebrow before getting up... and then he noticed his hand which he used to hold her... his palm was bloody. He felt stunned.
He went over to her side and saw her left wrist. It had a thin strip of bandage wrapped around it but it was still bleeding uncontrollably. "Damn!" he cursed impatiently before he got her; carrying her back to her own bedroom. He roughly dropped her on her soft bed. She seemed lifeless.
She opened her eyes once more and looked up at him with a weariness. "S...Skurai..." she said softly with a trembling tone, reaching out a hand to him.
The way she spoke and the way she reached out a hand to him...
"Are you alright, Princess?" Skurai asked softly.
Titania smiled wearily at him and reached out a trembling hand to him. He took her hand in his...
The same memory seemed to take control of Sara and she wondered what she was doing when she just saw herself reach out a hand to Skurai... and he took it.
He squeezed it gently and even kissed it, "Princess..." he said softly.
She just smiled sadly at him.
..."There is something you must know..."
She could still recall Freya's words to her... and she closed her eyes. Tears streamed down her face. "Am I her?" she asked softly.
Skurai was surprised when he heard this. He just swallowed hard and let go of her, wanting to think things through.
He got up and went off for a while to search for a first aid kit.
Sara lingered for a moment, saying a soft prayer to Freya, "...You are the Goddess of Love and Beauty... and you aim for perfection in everything. You said that there is something I must know. Is this the truth?"
Skurai came back with a first aid kit and she just closed her eyes as he treated her wound. She was surprised by his sudden kindness towards her, but she could recall the way he looked at her as when he came back.
His eyes were cold and emotionless... as if he was just helping her because it was an obligation; since he's her "servant" now... so that he could see his Princess again.
oOoOo
To be continued...