Chapter 2: Yuan

Well, who else? I mean, at the end of the game, he's one of the two in the old group who's still alive, so I might as well. And I think it would be interesting to know how three (or probably four) people saw the same series of events. I think after this I'll do this in backwards order of death. Since Mithos died more recently, I'll do him next; Martel's account will be a lot more detailed because she wasn't alive for four thousand years. And I'm only doing when she was actually alive, not when she was… uh… frozen. So, without further ado, Yuan's story.

Two men sat in a room. It was a comfortable room, with a purple carpet, decorated walls, and nice furniture. They were friends from a long-ago war. One had red hair, the other blue.

"I know how hard it was to give up Martel," the red-haired one said suddenly.

"I gave her up over a thousand years ago. And I didn't really give her up. I wanted her spirit to be free. If she could be happy, I would be satisfied. And that happened. We did that. I'm sorry about Anna… and Lloyd."

"Mithos was a backstabbing traitor. I found that out 500 years ago. His lies were complete, but they were lies nonetheless. If I hadn't –"

"If you hadn't given the ranch to Kvar, you would never have met Anna anyway, and you wouldn't care about it. You have to figure out whether it was better to have known Anna and have Lloyd, or to not have known Anna and have Sylvarant still in decline. That's what I always tell myself about Martel: at the time, it seemed right to try to resurrect her. I didn't think that her spirit might be trapped for four thousand years. That isn't what you think while you're grieving. It would have been better to shatter her exsphere, but none of us were thinking about that."

"…I know."

"Have you told Lloyd yet?"

"No. I was thinking of doing it today."

"Okay. 'Bye then. I have no doubt that we'll see each other again."

"Goodbye."

The redhead left the room, leaving the blue-haired one with his memories.

Martel… oh, Martel…

It had happened four thousand years ago. Martel had been killed, mistaken for Mithos, all because he and Yuan had been fighting.

Whenever Yuan and Mithos argued, Martel always went to the back of their group, to Kratos. He was quiet, and he never argued without a good reason. Early in their journey, Martel had tried conversing with Kratos, but eventually found that her efforts were futile. So she simply enjoyed the silence and their surroundings.

She and Yuan had met in Exire. He was a shop clerk who sold everything from light bottles to weapons to pineapple gels. She was a generic villager who happened to be particularly good at healing arts and magic, both defensive and offensive. And acrobatic attacks. She could confuse anyone, then knock them out before they knew that they were hurt.

She and her brother were living with their human mother. Their father was still in Heimdall. Well, not anymore. Even elves didn't live for four thousand years. But he was at the time.

One day, Exire was more or less bombed. The floating city was no longer safe for any person, half-elf or otherwise. Yuan, Martel, and her brother Mithos fled to the then-nearby city, Izoold. They found out that each of them was good at at least one skill that could be useful in battle.

It sounded stupid, going on a quest to save the world, like it was something that anyone could do, but no one else seemed to be trying and it was time that the war was ended. Magitechnology could be put to good purposes, useful purposes, and it didn't need to be used for war. The only magitechnological device that Yuan owned was a little pocket clock. He'd lost it three thousand years later, but it had been a statement on the overuse of magitechnology.

First, they had to become important enough to be able to reckon with two opposing armies. To get powerful, mana-bearing powers on their side, they went by ship to Palmacosta to begin forming pacts with the Summon Spirits.

After the Seal of Water, they were forced to journey across the Hakonesia Battleground. There had been a battle there recently. Martel had seen movement, and they had found Kratos. They went to the nearby town of Asgard, where Kratos rested. Then, he agreed to help them. Only Mithos, however, fought the Summon Spirits for the Right of the Pact. He had always felt that things weren't truly his if he didn't earn them himself... he was always so foolish…

Between Water and Wind, Martel wanted to go to Lake Umacy to get the Unicorn Horn. Mithos had wanted to go on to the Wind Temple first, but Yuan and Kratos had done everything short of bind his arms and legs and drag him to get him to come along. They understood healing arts, and the Unicorn Horn would help all three of them with their magic. Yuan had kept it, after he'd failed to save Martel… no. It wasn't only him. Kratos had also failed, so it wasn't a failure in himself. He had to remember that always. Martel would be upset, if she were alive, that he took all of the blame for himself. He always wondered if Kratos felt that way sometimes. It was one of those questions that you just don't ask to someone like Kratos. Kratos was distant, and he and Yuan had opposed each other for about two thousand years, so…

But the Unicorn Horn had actually been extremely useful. In the Wind Temple, Mithos, being young and unaccustomed to large mana intakes, passed out from the wind-mana he got when he formed the pact with Sylph. Martel had brought him back to consciousness with the Unicorn Horn. Yuan remembered that Mithos had never mocked healing arts after that.

Martel had always considered the armies that their group sometimes encountered as monsters. Their main goal was to kill as many people as they could, without dieing. Martel loved the world, and she thought that life should be filled with love, not hatred. Kratos had understood her meaning, but being from the Tethe'allan army, he always tried to convince her that there was more to it than that.

Kratos understood about the Trial of the Chosen, though. Martel had died inside because Mithos was so selfish. Mithos had noticed, but he hadn't understood. Not then. Not ever. He was the only person who Martel ever came to dislike in any form: she hated his blind ambition. He couldn't see what was in front of him, so from the fifth pact onward she had thrown what Kratos had called a "prolonged tantrum." First, she wouldn't eat when Mithos was there, then she was too upset to sleep. Yuan and Kratos, especially Yuan, had spent many nights giving her someone to cry to. Sometimes they could distract her with the stars, or the trees, or something like that, but usually not. After the seventh pact, she never complained to Mithos and became cold and distant towards him. It had made him unbelievably jealous to see her hugging Yuan and not telling him anything. After the eighth seal, she had thrown the ultimate fit: she wouldn't speak in Mithos' presence. No matter what he did, the only way she would talk near him was in written letters on people's hands. If Mithos had just said that he appreciated her and that he should have paid more attention to her, and that he really did appreciate her, then she would have stopped, and cried for joy, and flung her arms around him, and forgiven him that very second, but he didn't. He couldn't admit that her indifference was his fault.

Then she had died, mistaken for Mithos, the day after the war ended. Kratos had helped Yuan to try to heal her, but she died anyway. It was the last time she ever spoke to anyone. Yuan would remember her words forever: "I love you, Mithos. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. I always hoped… I always wanted to see a world without discrimination. Yuan, I hate to leave you. Don't blame yourself for my death. And Kratos… Thank you… for… being… there…" She closed her eyes and died, entirely peaceful, blood still running from her back.

It had been Yuan's fault more than Kratos' though, not because of the healing, but because he had been fighting with Mithos. Whenever he and Mithos argued, Martel went back along the trail to walk with Kratos. It was always a one-sided conversation, but she didn't mind. After the eighth pact, they eliminated conversation altogether.

Yuan and Martel, of course, had been engaged. They had loved each other deeply, but Mithos had been hurt the most by her death, mostly because he didn't understand that others didn't like his system. Kratos and Yuan knew, but it didn't seem like the right time to get angry at Mithos. Not when Martel died. Perhaps for someone else, but not for Martel.

Yuan remembered Kratos telling him and Mithos that they should rest, and eat, and all of those things, but Mithos was sobbing too hard to listen and Yuan didn't want to listen. He was thinking about Martel. Martel, the half-elf who had loved everyone and hated hatred. It was a thankless position to be in, but she was a strong person. She had been so beautiful, with her green hair and her dress and her mage staves. She was the sort of person who could have an extremely serious argument with you, then turn to the rest of the group and balance a spoon on her nose without even thinking about what had happened. She would think about that later. She was entirely original, and there would never be anyone quite like her again.

It had been her wish to unify the two continents. They figured that, with their magical abilities, they should be able to defeat the Summon Spirits and save the world.

They had all been amazed at how weak the villagers were. Mithos himself could fight five soldiers at a time and win. With the rest of their group, they could fight ten soldiers. And yet, the villagers were scared that they would be killed by random lost soldiers. Mithos had always looked down on them, but Martel was kind to them because she understood that not everyone was strong. In the end, she had been stronger than any of them. She had died with the same grace and dignity that she had died with. The next day, when Yuan was out of his shock-like grief and Mithos out of hysterics, Mithos had gotten the idea about the Great Seed. Yuan had said that no, it was wrong to make her live for forever without being able to speak, but Mithos was stubborn and he wanted to show Martel a world free of discrimination. He didn't understand that discrimination wasn't just towards half-elves, it was against everybody. Half-elves felt it most , but that didn't mean that it didn't happen to others. When people were afraid or angry, they were mean to others. That was how it worked, sadly. Mithos was afraid, so he blamed everyone else. Hence, Martel was put into a sort of prison for four thousand years, which wasn't fair to her. Did Mithos care, or notice? No.

So Yuan had formed the Renegades, who wanted to reform the single world and free Martel. They looked exactly like Desians, but they weren't. It was amazing that Yuan had stayed in Cruxis, but he was a good actor. Never to Martel, though. He never lied to Martel, except when it would make her happy. Like, he would lie about something he was going to do because he knew that she'd be delighted in the end. He would never lie to her for any other reason. Mithos would, though. Then Yuan would tell the truth and Mithos would get mad and they'd start arguing and Martel would go back with Kratos. In reality, Martel had died over a cookie. She asked Mithos if he'd eaten a cookie. He said no. Yuan said yeah, he had. Mithos got mad. Martel went to Kratos to walk with him. An Ozette villager had stabbed her in her back. Kratos had yelled at Mithos and Yuan to get the heck over there. They had kept her alive for a few minutes, but she had died.

In the world of now, Yuan was starting to cry. Whenever he thought about why Martel was killed… If it weren't for him, she wouldn't have… but that was the past, and he couldn't change the past. He could only change the future. He had just thought…They had saved her, when she got Angelus Toxicosis, when she had been so depressed over Mithos… why couldn't they save her just one more time?

…But it was useless wondering, because what was done was done. No one could change it. Not Yuan, not Mithos, not anything. He had managed to force sadness from his voice when he spoke of her, but when he thought of her…

Oh, well. Her world, her world where almost everyone gets along, was coming. It was coming because eight determined people had decided to give half-elves a place in the world. There were no more Renegades, no more Desians to justify the Renegades, no more Trial of the Chosen to justify the Desians, no more Martel to justify the Trial of the Chosen, no more Cruxis to protect Martel, and no more Mithos to head Cruxis. When he thought of Mithos as an Yggdrasil, he felt glad that Martel and he were planning to be married.

Well, the world was fine now. It was one again, Martel was free, Mithos couldn't kill any more innocent people, and Kratos had had time to talk to Lloyd. Probably Colette, too, now that they were married. And, according to Kratos, Iselia had a new Mayor. That was good. Yuan had never been treated kindly in Iselia under that Mayor.

Yeah, it took awhile. Please tell me if this isn't Yuan-ish, I really need to know. And if the first one wasn't Kratos-ish enough. Next one's Mithos! Remember, he can't admit to his mistakes. That's what Kratos says if you walk with him in Flanoir. So, how does a perfect person think? I'm hoping to find out. See, I have Mithos' old exsphere here, and I'm going to have him help me write the chapter. Like, channel his spirit and all that (okay, all I have is a glow-in-the-dark ouija board that I got for my birthday. But that's got to count for something) so the next chapter should be good.