A/N: Here's a new chapter for the people who read. By-The-By missed this before:

Richard+

Name: Richard Raul

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Brown

Defining marks: Religious symbols tattooed up and down his arms

History: Richard grew up in the Prontera Academy, after completing the Acolyte exam, Richard left on a journey of spiritual enlightenment.

I awoke the next morning to find Raul sprawled out on the couch, he hadn't even made it to the other bed. I got dressed and snuck across the room. In the hall I peeked into the girls' room, they were still fast asleep. I walked further down the hall, heading to the kitchen, when I heard someone call my name.

"Hello?" I whispered. I looked around in the hall, but to no avail, I was the only one there.

"William!" The voice hissed. I turned and walked back down the hall, when I saw a door slightly ajar. I looked inside and saw Taiki sitting up in her bed. "Come here!" She whispered. I walked into her room and stood at the end of her bed.

"Yes?" I asked my little friend.

"I just wanted to thank you again, for last night," She blushed.

"No need, I'm always up for helping those in need," I smiled and she blushed deeper. I looked around the room. I spotted a chair in the corner of the room and walked over to it and sat down. I looked to my novice friend. "So, what brings you to Commodo?" I asked and she blushed more deeply.

"I...I really don't know..." She went quiet, "Just looking."

"Yes, the beach is quite beautiful, no?" I smiled.

"Yes..." She flushed, "But I meant I was looking at people." I quirked an eyebrow.

"The people? Why do that?"

"Well, I really don't know what class I want to be yet."

"Ah, thankfully, I never had to worry about that," I stretched an arm across my chest.

"Why?"

"It was decided for me," I admitted.

"What?" She seemed confused, "Why?"

"Oh, ah...It's just a thing with my family..." I wiped sweet from my brow.

"What class are you?"

"I'm a Sage."

"What!" She yelled.

"Shh!" I hushed her, "People are still sleeping,"

"How are you already a Sage? I don't even know what I want to be yet, and I'm a novice!" She scoffed.

"It's a long story that I really don't want to get into right now." I turned away to avoid her piercing eyes.

"Oh, s-sorry," She blushed and looked down.

"You really like to apologize, don't you?" I chuckled and she flushed a deeper red. I laughed and turned my back to her. "I'm going down to the kitchen, if you're coming then get dressed and let's go."

A few minutes later Taiki and I were downstairs eating breakfast as Mandis and Alexia came down the stairs and sat with us. Mandis glared at Taiki, who looked down into her eggs.

"Who the f are you?" she spat.

"I-I'm no one," Taiki mumbled as she took a bite of her eggs. Alexia beamed at her.

"You have to have a name, it's what makes you unique!" She giggled.

"I'm not unique," She mumbled, putting more eggs in her mouth.

"Of course you are!" I scolded her, "Girls, this is Taiki,"

"Hi!" Alexia beamed, giving her a hug.

"Hello," she mumbled while blushing.

"Yeah," Mandis grumbled, taking a piece of her toast.

"Mandis!" Alexia scowled.

"What?" She mumbled through a mouth full of toast, "She's just a novice," Alexia rolled her eyes and Taiki just blushed.

"Come here," Alexia stood up and walked off, Mandis in tow.

"Nothing wrong with the inexperienced," Raul smiled as he sat down beside me, taking a piece of my toast.

"What's with everyone and toast?" I grumbled.

I finished off my eggs and took my plate back into the kitchen. As I neared the door I heard Alexia and Mandis in the kitchen, I stopped and listened, I knew it wasn't right, but I would have felt rude intruding on them.

"What was that all about?" Alexia scowled.

"What was what?" Mandis grumbled.

"Don't act stupid, why were you being such a witch?"

"You mean B?"

"I don't swear."

"Whatever, I wasn't anyways, like I said, she's just a novice."

"I know there's more to it than that, what's really going on?"

"Duh, she likes William," That's when I decided I probably didn't want to hear anymore. I walked around the corner, trying to look as if I hadn't heard anything.

"Oh, hi girls, hope I'm not intruding, just bringing my plate beck, I'll be out of the way soon." I put the plate away and headed back into the eating room, where I sat back down with Raul and Taiki.

"So, Taiki, what do you have planned for this glorious day?" Raul asked as I sat down.

"Um...I'm really not sure..." She mumbled. She was certainly very shy.

"Well, you're always welcome to come with us to Al De Baren," I suggested.

"Th-Thank you, I think I will," She smiled, and I smiled back. She blushed suddenly and looked down to her feet. I chuckled and told my friends I was going back to my room to pack.

Raul joined me a few minutes later; the girls were already in their room. I was ready to go, and was sitting on my bed reading my novel again. Raul finished packing his stuff and looked over to me.

"So, how about our young novice friend? She seems to have taken a liking to you, no?" He asked as he sat and waited for the girls to come get us.

"No," I replied bluntly.

"Can you not see it when she talks to you?" He asked.

"Like I said, 'No'," I closed my book and put it in a pocket in my cloak. The girls came in, Alexia as happy as usual, Mandis looking just as pissed as when she had left.

"We're ready to go, or do you two still need to say goodbye to that novice?" She grumbled.

"Actually, Taiki is coming with us," Raul scowled, "What do you have against her?"

"Nothin really," She shrugged, "She's just a novice, they annoy me," I rolled my eyes and went to see if Taiki was ready.

I knocked on her door, and after a few seconds of waiting Taiki came to the door. She smiled, then blushed. I shook my head in disbelief.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"Yup," She smiled. We headed out into the hall to the waiting others.

"Well, off to Al De Baren!" Raul shouted as we headed down the stairs and out the door. We looked around quickly for the Kafra. We walked up to the oddly dressed female Kafra.

"Allo governor," Mandis mock bowed, "We've come to take the ferry across to Al De Baren, we 'ave." The Kafra cocked an eyebrow and rolled her eyes.

"What she means is, we'd like to go to Al De Baren please," Raul smiled. He handed over a handful of Zenny, The Kafra stifled through it, then handed some back.

"That's a bit too much, have a good time!" She smiled as the world around us faded out, and we faded back into reality in the town of Al De Baren.

Raul looked around with the look of a man who had come home after a long journey. He looked around him and found what he was looking for, the town hub, he ran down the road, us closely at his heels. We stopped in the center of the town.

"I'm home!" Raul screamed in happiness. Everyone in the circle looked at him, but the most important of all the glaring eyes were the Golden eyes gleaming from a rather beautiful merchant, Angel.

"Richey!" She squealed, dashing at him, he looked over to her, eyes lighting up. She hit him head on and they fell to the ground laughing in each others arms. They kissed deeply, and after a few minutes, I stepped forward and cleared my throat abruptly.

"Oh?" Raul stopped kissing Angel and stared into her eyes, "Yes William?" He asked without looking at me.

"Yeah, how about an introduction and maybe you two can breathe for a few seconds to?" I asked as Alexia and Taiki giggled. Angel blushed openly.

"Ah, yes, well," Raul stood up, helping Angel to her feet. "Angel, these are my friends, Mandis, Alexia, Taiki, and William," She smiled politely to all of us, "Friends, this is Angel." He kissed her forehead and she blushed.

"Hi!" Beamed Alexia and Taiki.

"Hey," Grumbled Mandis.

"Hello," I said with a sweeping bow.

"Hello," She laughed. She led us all over to her stall so she could close it down. She grabbed the sign from the front and placed it inside while Richard folded the retractable legs. Angel secured her stock and grabbed a hold of the handles of the cart and we were off. Raul and Angel caught up with each other, Raul telling little tales and adventure stories, some he later admitted for fiction rather than fact.

Mandis and Alexia were talking, if you could call it that, about somebody named Ariseth. Alexia was asking some pretty interesting questions, and Mandis didn't seem too eager to answer, she mumbled something and I leaned in closer to hear her, but I couldn't.

"William?" Taiki inquired.

"Yes?" I replied, turning my attention to the young novice beside me.

"What class do you think I should be?" She asked, and honestly, I didn't know.

"Well, what kind of things do you like? What are you interested in?" I asked her. She blushed deeply, covering her cheeks.

"You know, just regular stuff, like music, exploring, playing around with friends..." Taiki didn't mention that she really never had many growing up.

"Well, let's see..." I thought it over for a moment, "You can stay as a novice, which to me doesn't sound too appealing. Or you can change class. So, there are six classes, Swordsman, thief, mage, acolyte, merchant, and archer. We seem to have a representative of each in our midst except the swordsman, but you don't really look the type, what do you think?" She thought it over and shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess I'll decide when the time comes," She yawned and nearly fell asleep beside me.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just didn't get much sleep last night or any at all the night before, so I'm kind of tired." As if on cue at the end of her sentence she gave another huge yawn and collapsed against me. I bent down and picked her up, so I was carrying her in my arms as she slept.

"We're hear!" Raul yelled back as we walked up to a small house just near the edge of town a few minutes later.

"Shh!" I hissed at him, "She's sleeping," Mandis looked back wide-eyed and glared and Taiki. She stooped down and pressed against her ear,

"Hey," She whispered, "WAKE UP!" Taiki woke with a shake and fell out of my arms, Mandis laughing her head off. I glared at her and helped Taiki up as she wiped the dust off her butt.

"Owwy," She complained. Raul knocked on the door loudly.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" We waited a few minutes and no one answered. "Mom? Dad?" Raul walked around the house and found a window. Next thing we knew he was infront of us at the door. "Hmm, that's odd, no one home."

He led us inside and we all sat down in the kitchen.

"Anyone thirsty?" Raul asked as he looked around.

"I am," Taiki mumbled, raising her hand a little.

"I wouldn't mind a drink," Angel smiled, happy to have him home. Raul got two cups and got water for the girls, when he discovered the note.

Raul walked back over to us, wide eyed; he sat down and dropped the note on the table.

"They've been kidnapped..."

Dear Richard Raul,

I assume you were expecting a more welcome homecoming, well, sorry to disappoint, but we need a favor from you, and we've taken you're parents, as, what you may call , an insurance policy, to be sure you do exactly as we ask, wait just there, and a messenger will be along shortly to explain the knitty gritty of it all to you.

Lovingly,

Jack Enstien.

I looked from the note over to Raul, who had his arms around Angel. Mandis and Alexia looked over the note, then Taiki took a look at it.

"Oh Richard..." Alexia looked at him sadly. Then our attention turned to the door as a man cast a shadow on us all. We all turned to him and stood up from the table.

"You!" Richard roared.