Seeking Redemption: Yuletide Celebrations Chapter 8: Part VI: I Won't Betray You, a lufia fanfic

I realise it's been a long time since I have had a chance to write anything in the story, and I sincerely apologize.

First, I want to thank everyone for their encouragement, their reviews, and their feedback. It makes it hopeful that the story will actually be finished, even though there is an outline and it has somewhat strayed off course. Especially off of this part of the story! ;p

Anyway, keep reading and keep sending those emails and IMs to me! It's appreciated!

Note: Again, special thanks to Cyan for his transcript of Lufia I on Forfeit Island. If you have not played Lufia and the Fortress of Doom, do not read. There is a spoiler in the last part, excerpted from the game with a few lines added from me.

The p's are for spaces, since for some reason, it keeps bunching it together.

Part Six

I Won't Betray You, I'm Your Friend

Aguro stared at her a moment, trying to clear his head. Between the children that he had suddenly took the responsibility of, and the potion that was in his pocket, he was trying to wonder which priority to take care of first. Luckily, his question was answered with the little child coughing in her sleep in his arms. He was thrown back to the present and nodded slightly. "Yeah. I found two kids outside. This one's sick."

"Well, bring them inside," she told him, turning around to walk to the kitchen. "No use in letting them freeze longer, stupid."

I did expect her to stay mad at me, but . . .

"Oh, there's food on the table if they're up for some food," Lufia called. "Seeing as we didn't to eat it, I guess someone should."

"Mmm!" Jacen was excited as he looked in the direction that Lufia had gone in. "Food? You didn't lie, Mr.!" He ran over to the table and saw the glorious dinner layed out before him. "I wonder if we can get some for Acyen. We haven't been able to really eat in days." His voice lowered as he walked softly back over to where she was and looked to Aguro. "We should get her in some clothes that aren't wet."

"Let me take care of the child." Roman came up from behind Jacen and the boy stepped back a bit to let him have some room. "Aguro, she'll be fine. Lufia'll take a look at her. In the meantime, how about you get them some food? Bring up the child's food and let the boy eat."

Lufia stepped back from the food and turned to Aguro, facing him. "We should get to her, as Papa suggested. You going to come?" Her eyes were tired, the redness starting to fade from her crying earlier. "I'm sure that girl'll be wondering where you went to."

Aguro nodded, pushing back his hair out of his face. "Yeah, I know. I'm just wondering on something, though." He did not voice his thoughts on how she was in front of the boy, who was now eating his heart out. There was no point in ruining the good mood just yet.

"Here," Roman said, interrupting the two, handing Lufia a plate of food. "For the girl. I'll save some for the rest of you. Take her up, now." Turning back to Jacen, Roman showed him some more of the food that was out.

"Well, you heard him," Lufia told him, leading the way upstairs. "We should put her in bed before anything happens. I know we have to talk." Running a hand over her forehead, she descended up the stairs, sighing softly. "And when we do talk, I expect it will be alone."

"Alone, yes. With those children, no." He smiled. "At least you're leaving it between us."

Lufia's eyes bored into his as she smirked. "The conversation is to stay between us. Not to the others." Turning her head away, she then ran up the rest of the stairs, calling, "Hurry up!"

As he moved up toward the stairs, the child stirred and groaned, shivering with cold. Even though she had his cloak around him, this worried him and thus, persuaded him to go up the stairs and into Lufia's room, where he put Acyen.

Sometime later, after they had left her food there, Lufia had directed Aguro into the other room, which happened to be Roman's bedroom. Aguro only noticed this by the boxers that were on the side of the bed. That's scary. I sooo did not need that image in my head.

"So, what was it you needed to discuss?" He broke the sudden silence between the two. "I suppose you aren't going to apologize for shutting us out again."

Lufia sighed. "No, I shall not." Glancing away a moment, she turned to face him. "You don't usually come all this way to talk to me. I supposed there was something you wanted to ask as well." Lufia shuffled her feet against before speaking. "Actually, I hadn't meant to shut you out—"

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that I could trust you?" The words came out of his mouth before he had meant to speak them. He wanted to wait a little bit, let her confess before rushing in. Stupid. Now I'll never know.

Her eyes shot up and she stopped playing with her feet. A look of anger swept over those blue eyes as her fists balled up and she spun around, turning away. "I—I heard you—that day." It was all she said, her voice cracking.

"Heard me when?" The knight asked, clearly confused now.

"That day!" she yelled, sniffling. "You told Devur to kill me, because I would betray you!"

Aguro's face turned pale. He had not thought she had overheard a word of it. It explained a lot of her feelings toward him now, especially how cold she had turned toward the man. And this probably was the reason for all of it. For some stupid comment he had made years ago.

"…you did hear then." He did not try to deny it. There was no point in lying about something that was already done. "It was a hasty comment—"

Spinning around, she wiped some tears out of her eyes before she stomped up to him and slapped him across the face. He never bothered to stop her; in truth, he had anticipated that Lufia would be quite pissed at just hearing those words. Nonetheless, he looked at her.

"Hasty? You think you had some goddamn right, telling someone who you hardly know to kill his girlfriend! Do you have any idea what I went through there? Do you?" She had shrieked loud enough to cause some concern, as she heard footsteps approaching from the stairway.

"You alright up there?" Roman called. "Should I come upstairs?"

"No!" Aguro called out. "We're fine. Just take care of the boy for now. We'll be through in a moment!" Then, he sighed. "No, I didn't. I didn't think—"

The girl turned away. "That's just it. You didn't think. You were so selfish back then. You can still be that way sometimes." She sighed, heavily. "And if you hadn't said those words, I could probably still hate you right now…but…I guess, after seeing you marry Jerin…I kind of started coming around. About you, I mean."

Really? Why didn't you ever say that? It would have helped the situation instead of treating me like I was always stupid all the time, Lufia. He smiled. "So does this mean I'm not just the stupid guy with a weapon anymore?"

Lufia laughed. It was a rare thing to hear these days, and he presumed that it had become a turning point in the conversation. "You're still stupid," she giggled, turning around and hugging him. "Just…no stupidity like that again, or you'll get killed for sure, you hear?"

Patting her head, he nodded. "Yeah, I hear you. Just tell me when something's wrong, alright? I can't help if I don't know."

"Yeah." A pause as she let him go, and then turned to the door. "We should check up on the girl. Many things could happen with one sick as she." She had started walking to the door as he cleared his throat and nodded. "I'll take care of her. You go tell Papa everything's okay." Lufia had walked out the door.

"Well, I guess that's settled," he told himself. "Hopefully I can get a drink. My throat's parched."

Heading downstairs, he was met with a look from Roman. "I could hear you two yelling from there. I hope that was necessary. You shook the boy up."

Stepping down the last step, Aguro nodded. "Pent up frustration, old man. Anyway, do you think I could get some tea for Lufia? She seemed to be kind of tense. I hear tea will get her to relax a bit." He cleared his own throat. "Truth be told, I'm a bit parched myself."

Roman nodded, the look of worry off his features as he made his way to the kitchen. As Aguro followed, he held his hand up. "Stay there. The boy is asleep. I'll come back and you can deliver it to her."

Aguro nodded again. "That's appreciated. Thank you." As Roman stepped away, he thought a lot about the conversation upstairs and was glad that they finally had come to terms with each other. But is drugging her the right way to get her to explain her past? What kind of trust is this to put on someone? What trust is there? That's not…

"Here you are, Aguro," Roman said, coming back with the tea. "Just be sure she doesn't pass out from exhaustion. I had put some sleeping tea in it. It often will help her sleep."

"Well, how do I tell which one is which?" he asked, taking the identical cups. "I don't want to take the one that will—"

"Left hand. That one is her tea. Give it to her before you drink yours." Turning away, he headed back to the kitchen. "Let her go with you to Devur's. She'll need it. Besides, that pain has to come out sometime. I'm sure she has to let Kayath go somehow." His voice trailed off as the kitchen door closed softly.

Kayath? Who is that, exactly? Aguro pondered this as he walked back upstairs, trying to make sense of what Roman just said.

"There he is!" he heard a girl's voice cry from across the hall. "There's the man who helped me, miss! Now, where's my brother!"

This caught Aguro by surprise as he heard Lufia respond in a gentle voice. "Asleep, with my father. You're sick, so we brought you upstairs."

Coming in the doorway, the girl looked annoyed at the sight of the doorway being blocked. "Where's my brother, Mr.?"

A series of coughs came from Acyen as she was laid back in bed and Aguro handed Lufia her tea. Gratefully, she accepted and sipped some of it. "Thank you, Ag. And it is as I said, he is asleep, as you should be. You are quite sick." She put her hand on her forehead and whispered a word. The girl became still and fell asleep, her head easing down on the pillow. "She should sleep for some time."

"What about finding out where they are from?" Aguro asked. "It's Christmas. I would be worried."

"If they are this far out, they must have been fending for themselves. They haven't ate in what looks like days, their clothes are tattered and they were outside in the snow. I imagine their parents are dead, Ag." Her eyes turned to his face as she drank some more tea. "Roman will take good care of them. He needs more lively children in his home. He is rather lonely now that I am grown up."

Aguro sipped his tea, letting her speak.

"Perhaps I shall go back with you to see Devur. Christmas is rather lonely without his company." Downing the last of the tea, she stood up and handed him the cup. "Thank you again. We should go tell him we're going." She smiled. "And—thank you. For clearing that up with me."

Walking out with her, he nodded. "Should of done it sooner, girl. I'll wait for you outside."

Aguro headed out the door as Lufia headed into the kitchen to tell her father where she was going. As he stood outside, once again, snowflakes fell on him and he found himself remembering the day they met in Treck, after a group of lizard creatures had taken his boat.

"I am Aguro, commander of the Lorbenian Army," he had proclaimed proudly as he looked upon the two people who came up to him. "I came when I heard that Gades invaded Sheran. Can you tell me anything?" He remembered the horrified look he saw from Lufia as she glared at him. "Well?"

Somewhat skeptical, Aguro remembered the way the redhead spoke as he sighed. "You want to know about Gades?"

Well, and probably about the boy, as well, Aguro thought. This is going to be a long mission. I won't be back in time to make a proper report to the commander. "And you as well, I see. Do you know anything?"

"You may not believe me," the knight had replied, "but I fought him."

Aguro gasped in obvious shock. This kid? No way in hell! He must be joking! He's—then again, he is the only lead I have. "Is this true?" Aguro asked, showing his disbelief.

The woman huffed as she turned away. "It's clear he doesn't believe you, Devur. Perhaps we should leave and find another who will rent us a boat." The girl started walking off when the man grabbed her arm.

"Stay here. It's too dangerous..."

"Who are you? What's your name?" Aguro demanded.

The redhead turned back around, letting the woman's arm go. "I am Devur, Knight of Alekia. And this would be my friend, Lufia."

He clearly ignored the fact that the girl was there. Recalling now, he should have made some attempt to acknowledge her presence. Perhaps that was what started their rivalry long ago.

"Devur," Aguro said. "Tell me more of your battle. Let's dine together at my camp. You will be my guest.

His mind flashed to later that day, after they had fought off the monsters that had sunk his ship. It was this that made her remind him of the whole memory in the first place.

"Hey! No problem. Trust me," Aguro coolly replied. "I'll let you go on my ship. I'll even take you to Lorbenia to continue your journey!"

"We'd be grateful if you could," Devure replied. "Thank you."

"Commander. The sh...ship was sunk by...by monsters."

"What!" He turned around and found that it was sinking and that it was destroyed. I so did not need this now. Where am I going to find another ship!

As if the soldier heard his thought, he responded, "This town has no more ships, Commander."

" . . . I know that." Turning to Devur, he sighed. "I suppose we should find a ship then."

"Can we trust him, Devur?" Lufia asked, making sure he could hear. "After all, his ship sunk, even in front of him. How do you think he'll treat us?"

I was a fool then, to have realized that she would not trust me. I should have talked it over before beginning that argument.

The door opened behind him and Lufia smiled, clasping her cloak. "Why don't we get going? I'm sure they're waiting for us and it is cold. Christmas is not mean to be alone, is it?"

Aguro shook snowflakes out of his green hair. "No, it is not. But we must go to the witches' house. That is where they are."

Lufia stepped back then. "The witch, Majainae? What are you two up to, Aguro?"

"We're just worried about you. You know, you're sad, and teary and who is Kayath anyway?" Once again, he spoke without meaning to. He could tell he should not have said that by the shocked look on her face.

"So…Papa's worried too. That is clear, when that name is mentioned.' Her eyes teared. "An old lover, from a time and place past. Come, we'll go in and tell them the story. I guess I should now. What harm will that do?" Yet it was clear that she would indeed drown in memories if she did not get with friends soon, and be in a safe haven.

Aguro took her arm and guided her as she cried to Majainae's doorstep and knocked on it twice. It was met with Devur opening the door and smiling. "I supposed you never did, did you, Ag?" he asked as she hugged him tightly and returned the hug.

"No, I never did. That's not trust. That's lying about someone. But make her step inside, Devur. As cute as it is to see you hug, I'm freezing."

They laughed as they stepped through, closing the door after Aguro had stepped inside.