Agrias Oaks had always been a devout follower of the teachings of the Glabados Church. She was a powerful, god-fearing woman, and more the take charge type than most of the team members. But there was one issue she found particularly hard to be take charge about. For about a year and a half now, she had been in love with one of the members of Ramza's band of adventurers, but she felt that her natural masculinity that made her such a good Holy Knight and her natural talent to blend in as 'just one of the guys' made her seem like just that: one of the guys. And of course, he would never go for 'one of the guys'. But, she would never show weakness, not to an opponent, and certainly not to an ally. Maybe Rafa, since she didn't really consider someone who never fought an ally. Even Princess Ovelia contributed at Zirekile Falls.
Anyway, she remembered when she first saw Ramza Beoulve. He had come to the Orbonne Monastery to safely escort the Princess safely back to Igros, where she would be better protected than by two female knights, two male squires, a Holy Knight and a Dark Knight. She would have pretty much the entire Igros guard keeping watch over her. But she was snatched right out from under Agrias' nose. She could not count how many times she had mentally kicked herself for not seeing that the Black Lion crested troops were simply a diversion for Delita Hyral to come in and kidnap the princess. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
"Come now my dear Agrias." Agrias turned as she heard a familiar voice behind her. "It was not all your fault. Although, we have much more than that to discuss."
"Simon!" Agrias cried with glee, for to her knowledge, Simon Pen Rakshu had died that day Izlude had come looking for Virgo. The details surrounding his death were still slightly shrouded in mystery, as it was unknown to Agrias when and where and by whom he was fatally wounded. "How have you been my old friend? I thought that you had died!"
"I did," Simon replied, and showed her the small hole in his robes where the sword had pierced his side. "And I was sent here, to limbo."
Agrias raised an eyebrow. "Limbo? But you were a man of God when you were alive. Why not just get into Heaven?"
"It is because I am a man of 'God' that I got sent to limbo," Simon said. "Unfortunately, that god was Ajora. But let me tell you Agrias, there is a God. There is one father almighty, and omnipotent ruler who watches us from Heaven, not Hell like 'St.' Ajora. I have seen him, and been judged. Well, not judged really. I mean, I was a good, pious man, if I may be a tad boastful, but covering up the Church's corruption for so many years was the deciding factor for my being sent here.
"But that's not important right now," Simon continued. "What is important is that you, Miss Agrias, were sent here by Altima's last attack. It killed her, for good this time we hope, and ripped a hole in the fabric of time and space. You and your team, as well as the magician Kletian, were hurled into that void in the space-time continuum. And then things get a little hazy until you all ended up here: quite literally in the middle of nowhere."
"Can… can I have a minute?" Agrias asked, trying to take all this information in at once. It was overwhelming.
"I'm afraid not my dear," Simon replied sympathetically. "I must get you to realize something so that you and I may both move on. If you get out of here, I finally get to go to Heaven."
The complete blackness surrounding Agrias turned into the familiar walls of the Orbonne Monastery. Within it's walls, she saw three familiar faces, two knights and a squire. The tall blonde girl with sparkling blue eyes and even more sparkling personality and great faith in Ajora, the shorter, more secular red head with crystalline blue eyes, and the brooding squire with the red cap covering his messy straw colored hair and brown eyes.
"Hey," she remarked. "It's Alicia, Lavian, and, what was that squire's name?"
"Rad," Simon replied, and put a finger to his lips. "Quiet. Listen to them."
"Well Rad, Lavian," Agrias heard Alicia say. "While I was praying today, I was informed by this mysterious voice whom I think was the voice of Ajora tell me to be careful, for today, someone will come and raid what's left of the Monastery."
"After my death," Simon began. "Lavian and Alicia felt that they should protect what was left of Orbonne. And since Rad was engaged to Lavian by that time, he went with them. But that part you already know. This part you don't."
Rad and Lavian looked confused, but humored their friend and agreed with her anyway. The scene fast-forwarded a little, and now it was simply Alicia standing watch outside. She looked bored when suddenly, out of nowhere, a dozen or so powerful-looking soldiers came out of nowhere with a graying knight in golden armor and a purple cape in their lead. His stride had the look of one who had seen much battle and many years, but been possessed by some sort of otherworldly strength. His Save the Queen hung comfortably at his side. As if to sense Agrias' thoughts about to occur, the scene froze.
"Vormav," Agrias said with much disgust as she crinkled her nose and then she spit on the ground as it was customary to do when a Holy Knight said a curse.
"Now, now Agrias," Simon cautioned. "The Vormav Tingel I knew was a highly just man with just a little too much faith in Ajora. The actions you and Ramza have witnessed were all done by Hashmalum, the lion demon who took over his mortal shell after the soul had been scooped out."
"The name Vormav Tingel will still always be a curse to me," Agrias replied bitterly, spitting on the ground again.
The scene resumed as the soldiers lined up behind Vormav. He smiled that sickeningly sweet smile as Rad and Lavian hastily exited the church to face Vormav.
"My dear ladies," Vormav began. "I wish only to bask in the wisdom of Orbonne's vast libraries. Surely you wouldn't deny a scholar the chance for more knowledge would you?"
"If you were a true scholar, Vormav Tingel," Alicia said, and spat after she said his name. "Then we would allow you to pass. But I am wise enough to know that what you seek here cannot simply be knowledge."
"My dear knight, I don't believe you are in the position to 'allow' anything," Vormav said, his voice dripping with poison. He looked to his right, and Rofel brandished his own Save the Queen. He looked to the right, and Kletian brandished one of the only Maces of Zeus left in existence. "I don't want to use force, but I will if I have to."
Each of the knights drew their swords, and Rad pulled his Scorpion Tail from behind him. Vormav smiled that sickly sweet smile, and motioned for his engineers to go inside.
"Rofel?" Vormav said simply, and Rofel snapped to attention. "Go inside and look for the markings on the floor indicating the location of St. Ajora's resting place will you? Everyone else will assist him except for Junk and his men. They will guard the entrance. I will take care of these vermin myself."
Vormav started to draw his own Save the Queen as the two female knights rushed at him, trying to protect what was left of the church. With a quick parry to the right, Vormav knocked Lavian's sword out of her hands. With the return swing, he caught Rad across the jugular. He started bleeding furiously from the neck and fell to his knees, gasping. Still using the momentum from the swing against Lavian, he brought the butt of his sword down on Alicia's wrist. Her arm dropped, and he used this opportunity to step on it with all his might, breaking her left, and sword, arm. As her arm went down, her sword stabbed her left foot, leaving a bloody mark in the middle. As she moaned in pain, Lavian ran to recover her sword. Rad watched in horror, barely alive, when Vormav threw the Save the Queen with practiced precision right into Lavian's heart. It hit its mark perfectly, and Lavian went down. Vormav went over and pulled the sword from her body. Rad was slowly bleeding to death, and Alicia stood pitifully, whimpering slightly, although Agrias could tell that she was in excruciating pain. She held her sword with her right hand and pointed it at Vormav. Her left leg never touched the ground, it just hovered an inch or two above, bleeding. He looked at the pitiful sight and let out a loud, almost unearthly laugh.
"You've got spunk kid," he said shortly. "But I'm afraid your time is up. I've got to get into Orbonne and, well, you're standing in my way."
"Ajora has a will, and if my death is part of it, then so be it," Alicia whimpered, barely able to stand, much less fight.
"Everyone's death is part of Ajora's will," Vormav replied. "You three are just a speed bump." And with that, he plunged his sword towards Alicia's chest. She tried to parry it, but the combination of the pain, the incorrect sword hand, and the superiority of Vormav's skills led the parry to be weak and misplaced. Vormav's sword went right into her stomach.
"Good… will always… conquer evil…" Alicia whispered. "You… will… die…"
"No, it is because good will conquer evil that I will not die," Vormav said as the light of life in Alicia's eyes died. "I am good, and you are evil. St. Ajora will cleanse the world with her holy fire, and we will all be saved."
After his speech, he wedged his left foot in between himself and Alicia's body, and kicked. Her beautiful baby blue eyes stayed eerily open as her lifeless carcass slid off the blade. By now, Vormav could see that Rad was dead, so he picked up Alicia's cape and wiped the Save the Queen clean. Then he went back into the monastery.
Agrias looked pale and sick. "Did that… did he really do that to them?" Agrias asked.
"I'm afraid so my dear," Simon replied. "But, like I said before, it was Hashmalum that did all those horrible things, not Vormav." Agrias spit once just for good measure.
"Why did we not find the bodies?" Agrias asked, thinking that if Vormav just left them in the front lawn, someone from Ramza's troops would have noticed.
"Well," Simon replied. "The seal needed blood to open. Simply put, your friends were it. Hashmalum was going to let you kill three of his own men, but he saw this as more convenient. I'm so sorry. I was close to Alicia and Lavian too, and obviously this Rad fellow meant something to Lavian-"
"No," Agrias said shortly. "No more. I don't want to know how any more of my friends die. I would just as soon assume they were missing in action. Please Simon."
"I truly am sorry Lady Agrias," Simon said kindly. "But it had to be done. And now, we both get to go where we belong." Simon smiled one last time, and then the entire expanse glowed white.
A/N: Let me start by saying that I really like Lavian, Alicia, and Rad. Because I like them, I gave them something the game never did: a decent death scene. Besides, I liked playing off their parts a bit, since the precious little of them you see in the game is overshadowed by Agrias and Gafgarion. I also just love the image of Agrias spitting. Think about it for a moment, would you? Anyway, I like Simon too, and had fun playing around with him. Next up is my archer Masahiro O'Bannon, the third of my four 'generics' to replace Alicia, Lavian, Rad, and Boco.