A/N: Awright! Time for Regal and Raine to finally hit the road! First stop: Luin!
Didn't get quite as many reviews as last time, but that's cool. CtB is now on a fair number of favorites and alerts lists now. Hooray!
That being said, it's time for "Respond to the Readers!":
Zelda's Fox 38 – Indeed. Regal and Raine may think they're prepared for what's to come… but they're not. O.o
RockRaider – Sure enough. When it was discovered that Mithos was indeed the leader of Cruxis and the Desians, Mizuho quickly sent out words of warning to both words as a precaution. Unfortunately, most people took this the wrong way and thought that, if the ancient hero Mithos was a badguy, then so must every other half-elf. Do'h. And yes, they will run into a buncha anti-Sylvanites.
MizzDarkness – Don't worry. It's because he still loves Alicia (at least to some degree) that he wears the cuffs, so this will be a slow-burn romance with Raine. And thank you for the clothes compliment, but y'all are the ones who gave me the idea, so be sure to pat yourselves on the back.
Sabriel41 – Thank you kindly. I think I'm better able to catch the personality of Regal than any other ToS char. BTW, loved "Gavotte". It's made a fine addition to me and Mooncannon's C2 archive.
DW-811 – Good eye. More than anything right now, this is nothing more than a "professional relationship". However, it's not that they're afraid to show their emotions, rather, they haven't really developed any intimate feelings toward each other yet. They are good, perhaps even close, friends, but nothing more… yet. Besides, Regal still hasn't let go of Alicia yet. Stay tuned though.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed but I didn't personally respond to. I usually only respond to questions or statements that I feel need a response. Don't take it the wrong way.
That being said and done, on with the show!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chapter 3: Messiah
The Rheiards touched-down just along the outskirts of Luin. Regal and Raine dismounted from their respected aircraft, sealed them within a wing-pack, and took a look at the once devastated city. It had been a while since the two had last been here. When they came here last time, the city was still in a constant state of reconstruction and improvement. After a few necessary buildings had been rebuilt, work almost immediately began on the crafting of a pair of statues in honor of, not only Luin's, but Symphonia's greatest heroes: Lloyd Irving, the Eternal Swordsman, and Sheena Fujibayashi, Grand Summoner of Symphonia. After their completion, a group of half-elven settlers took it upon themselves to erect a statue in honor of Raine Sage, Grand Healer of Symphonia; a half-elven woman who should've served as an example to the world that not all half-elves were bad people. To some humans and elves, it did so. To others, however…
"Luin looks absolutely marvelous now," said Raine as she gazed upon the city. "It spears to be in much better shape since the last time we visited here.
Regal nodded. "Indeed. It's hard to believe that this place was once no more than a pile of rubble." He pointed to an impressive fountain at the entrance to the city. "Look Raine. We can see Lloyd's statue. They must have finally completed it."
The denizens of Luin could not have picked a better spot for the statue. It was situated in a small alcove just behind the fountain, giving the likeness of the hero of Symphonia a very majestic look.
Raine nodded and pointed further off in the distance. "You can even see Sheena's statue from here. I wonder if she's seen it yet. If she had, I'll bet she was embarrassed.
The two adventurers shared a short laugh and continued looking over the city. Finally catching sight of Raine's statue, Regal frowned as he saw a few people gathered around it. "I can see your statue now. It seems to be in one piece and, strangely enough, there are only a few people around it. All of them have what appear to be very crudely made weapons."
Raine looked at him, puzzled. "Only a few? And you said the statue's in one piece? Weren't there supposed to be anti-sylvanites here?"
He nodded. "Indeed. Perhaps those people are there to guard it?"
She shook her head. "Ridiculous. If the anti-sylvanites were to come, there's no reason for these people to possibly throw away their lives for the sake of a statue, especially one in the likeness of myself."
Regal turned to face her, a stern look on his face. "Absurd. While you make not think highly of yourself, the good half-elves of this world, or at least of Luin, look upon you as a hero. The statue was most likely constructed to show the world that good half-elves truly do exist. You should not take being immortalized so lightly."
Raine snorted and began to look elsewhere. "Still, I- wait, what's going on over there?" She pointed to another gathering of people holding weapons as crude as those of the first group of people they saw. A couple of the larger people in the back were carrying what appeared to be small, hand-held battering rams. A loud man was standing in front of all of them, barking out orders.
"What in the devil are they doing?" asked Regal. He shook his head and began to make his way down the hill they had landed on and towards the entrance of Luin. "Let us go, Raine! This doesn't look good!"
She nodded and quickly followed after him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"This is it lads!" yelled the leader of the men as he waved a torch about. "This is our chance to take down that statue of that freak half-elf, Raine! These half-breeds don't know who they're messing with!"
The men roughly two dozen men surrounding him cheered and raised their weapons. "Those half-elves are goin' down!" cried one of the men. "Down with the statue!" More cheers erupted from the small crowd.
Not far away, Regal and Raine peeked around the corner of a nearby building and watched as the mob got pumped up.
"It's as I feared," said Regal. "They're here to kill any half-elves they come across and destroy your statue in the process." He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "We have to help the half-elves."
"Wait Regal," said Raine. "While we may be able to beat them, innocent lives may be lost along the way. Why can't we just give up the statue?"
Regal shook his head. "I already told you Raine that I will not have it. The people of Luin look up to you- hey, they're on the move!"
The mob of unruly men began move after the man in front barked yet another order. They were headed for the south-eastern part of the town where Raine's statue was situated.
"No time to waste!" said regal as he took off once again. "Let's go Raine!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A staunch, half-elven defender spread his arms as he stood in front of the statue while his companions looked on. "This is the statue of our hero! Our savior! We shall not allow you to bring any harm upon it, you heartless beasts!"
Several of the men in the mob chuckled. "Really now?" said one of the men in response. "We'll just see about that! Once we destroy your precious little statue and kill the lot of you, we're going to find your "beloved savior" and make sure that she meets a similar fate."
The young defenders of the statue readied their weapons and crouched down into fighting position. "Fiends! We won't let you get away with this!"
The leader of the mob stepped forward and spit at the young defender's feet. "Fiends? Us? Feh." He motioned to all of the villagers of Luin who now gathered around the supposed spot of battle. "It is you who are the fiends! You half-elves disgust me, and that statue is making everyone around here uneasy. Bah! What was so great about this Raine woman anyway?"
Another young defender, a female, spoke up. "She's our Messiah. She's the one who has come to save the half-elves from persecution."
"M-Messiah?" stuttered Raine as she sank to her knees, concealed by the shadows of a nearby building. "Do they really think of me like that?"
Regal nodded. "It is as I said earlier. Because of your actions of the past, the half-elves see you as an example to the world that there are such things as good half-elves." He pointed to the small group of half-elves. "These people are ready to die if it means that they can spare the statue of their "Messiah" from harm."
Raine stood up abruptly and unstrapped her staff from her back. "I can't allow bloodshed for my sake! We have to intervene!"
Regal nodded. "I concur. Let us g- wait, who's that?"
Emerging from the group of half-elves was a very small figure in a hooded cloak. The child-like figure picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at one of the anti-sylvanites. "Go away! Leave Lady Raine's statue alone!" cried a voice that sounded like that of a very young girl. Her facial features could not be seen yet and all that could be made out of her appearance thus far was the plain-looking brown cloak that she wore. What really caught Regal and Raine's attention though were the two strange looking lumps on the little girl's back.
The rock flew through the air and struck the man in-between the eyes. A few trickles of blood flowed from the small wound on the man's forehead. Grabbing his head in pain, he stumbled about and eventually fell over backwards. "Oww! You little brat! You're going to die for that! Kill her!"
This was the breaking point. The two sides were ready to collide: the anti-sylvanites dead-set on killing any and all of the half-elves and destroy their precious statue and the small group of half-elves who were prepared to defend not only the statue but the brave little girl as well. Raine and Regal had only seconds to act.
"Oh no!" cried Raine as she ran from her hiding spot and went to the half-elves' aid.
"Raine!" yelled Regal in vain. He got up and began to run after her but stopped when he saw that Raine had stopped in front of the little girl who threw the rock. She spread her arms and faced the would-be-killers.
"Don't come a single step closer!" she yelled. "If any of you so much as try to harm any of the half-elves here, I'll make you regret it!"
She hadn't realized it yet, but she had caught the attention of everybody near the statue. All eyes were glues on her as she made her defiant stand. Some of the half-elves, thinking that Raine looked somewhat familiar, kept looking back and forth between her and the statue. Once they realized who she was, all they could do was stand and stare with their mouths hanging open.
Obviously unimpressed with Raine's heroics, one of the anti-sylvanites spit on Raine's boots and snorted. "Stupid woman. You should've never gotten in our way. Let's ge-"
"Ray!" yelled Raine as the tip of her staff glowed with holy energy. Before the men had the chance to say, "What the hell is that?", several beams of energy flew from her staff and struck each one of the men, bowling them over with great ease. None of them were killed, for Raine, thankfully for them, showed some restraint when deciding just how much mana she was going to pour into her attack.
Completely struck by fear, many of the men took off running once they were able to walk once again. One man could do naught but crawl backwards on his back as he kept gasping in fear. "W-who are you?"
At this time, Regal had finally joined Raine at her side but said nothing. It looked as if Raine was quite capable of handling herself. She sighed and looked down… and into the face of the little girl who had previously stood up to the men before. She smiled and asked, "Are you Lady Raine?"
"Am I Lady Raine?" Raine asked herself. "What should I do? Now that they've seen their… "messiah"… ah! I don't know!" She shook her head and paused. "Maybe… maybe I should just go along with it for now. Otherwise, they might begin to lose hope for the half-elves."
Raine smiled back down at the child then frowned as she faced the scared man once again. "I am Raine, Grand Healer of Symphonia. I am a half-elf."
The man's eyes shot wide open. A half-elf? Considering how much mana she had used, he had assumed that she was a pure-blooded elf. It didn't matter now though. He had to get away. "Y-you're Raine! A-ah!" He scrambled to his feet and immediately took off after his fleeing buddies.
The half-elves roared in celebration as they watched the evil men turn tail and run. Many of them immediately swarmed around Raine, unable to believe that they're "messiah" had come to save them.
"You saved us!" said one of young half-elves. "Our messiah has come to purge the anti-sylvanites from Symphonia!" Another round of applause.
The little girl from earlier immediately threw her arms around Raine's legs and hugged her. "Wow! I really got to meet Lady Raine!"
Regal could not help but smile as he watched the scene. "Well done Raine. You've driven off the anti-sylvanites… at least, for now."
Raine smiled. "Thank you Regal." She knelt down and brought herself to be eye-level with the cloaked girl, giving her a better view of her facial features. She was indeed very young, being perhaps no older than five years old. Her emerald green eyes shone with innocence and true happiness as she gazed upon her hero. Raine could see that she had green hair but could not tell just how long it was with the hood on.
"You were very back there, little one. What is your name?" asked Raine.
The girl pointed to herself and grinned. "Me? My name is Myra, Lady Raine."
Raine embraced the child. "Haha. Just Raine is fine. I'm no different from you." As she hugged the child, Raine noticed something very strange. She was able to touch the strange-looking lumps on her back and they felt almost like… a pillow. It was as if Myra had two pillows strapped to her back.
Raine pulled back and asked Myra, "Myra, what's on your back?"
Myra's smile immediately faded and was replaced with a look of both worry and despair. "Ah, ah? N-nothing's on my back."
"She's lying," said a very dark sounding voice.
Everyone around the statue turned to face a fairly tall cloaked man, his features shrouded by the shadow of his hood. Regal gasped when he saw the person. "He looks so familiar… and that voice! Where have I met him before?" he asked himself.
"Hey buddy, mind your own business!" yelled one of the half-elves.
The man in the cloak chuckled and shook his head. "She's a spawn of Cruxis. Of Mithos!"
Raine looked at him strangely. The little girl tried to free herself from Raine's grip but didn't have the strength to do so. "Spawn of Cruxis? What do you mean?" asked Raine.
"Heh," snorted the man. "Take of that little cloak of hers and you'll see what I mean." With that, he raised one arm and, from his hand, came a large ball of energy that slammed into Raine's statue, causing it to topple over and crumble. With a laugh, the man turned completely around and took off running.
"T-the statue!" cried the half-elves! "This was our sacred statue! What will we do?"
Despite Regal's protests, Raine didn't care one single bit for the statue. She was wondering what the man had meant about little Myra. She let the little girl go and asked, "Myra, are you hiding something from me?"
The little girl began to shiver uncontrollably as she shook her head. Myra began to walk backwards but didn't get very far before the tripped over her cloak. A stray piece of broken statue ripped at her cloak, much to her horror. This left a good portion of Myra's back exposed and, when everybody saw what was on her back the whole time, they all gasped in horror: it was a pair of beautiful, white-feathered angel wings, similar to the ones seen on the angels of Cruxis.
"W-what is this?" asked Regal.
"Myra?" asked Raine.
Myra could do naught but stare at the ground as her wings stretched freely through the large whole in her cloak, wondering what the people of Luin would do with her.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ah! A Cruxis-type Angel! What's going to become of little Myra? And what's with that creepy guy that showed? Regal could swear that he'd seen the man somewhere before. Is Raine really the messiah of the half-elven people? Strange things are definitely afoot. Anyhoo, things have only just begun, so be sure to stay tuned for later chapters! Thanks for any and all reviews!