Forbidden

Amazon Bunny: Hey! This is the 3rd chapter of "Forbidden"...Characters are mildly OOC (Out of character, for those of you that have been living under a rock)...

Pairings are:
Kratos Raine (Kraine)
Kratos Anna (mildly...just to satisfy purists...)(Kranna)
Zelos Sheena (Sheelos)
Lloyd Colette (Colloyd)
Yuan Martel (Yuartel)
Genis Presea(Gesea)

Enjoy and leave loads of reviews! I love to know what my readers think!

-There has always been a tale about the famed Aurion estate. How the current master's late wife still walks amongst the living. Hauntingly beautiful, with brawn and brain to boot, everyone says "no one can replace her". As soon as the second Mrs. Aurion steps into the house, she feels a presence that was lost, but not forgotten, a phantom preserved as perfectly as if she were alive; as she treads in the shadows of her predecessor, she is determined to uncover the lost, chilling tale of Anna Aurion.
So it was official. I was going to be a married woman.

The shock of it actually took my breath away. I still had that fluttery feeling, like I had swallowedall the butterflies in the world,long after I left the restaurant and ambled up to the hotel. Kratos had said to meet me in front ofLloyd's statuethe next day. He said that if I needed him, I would be able to find him down by the docks.

The doorman held the door open for me and I saw Leon sitting by himself in the lobby, reading a newspaper. He looked up as I approached him.
"Where have you been?" He asked crossly. "Does it take you four hours to eat your meal?"
"No," I said, abashed by his comment. "I ran into someone I knew."
"Who?"
"Why should it matter to you?" And why should it? It was my business, after all.
"So you saw him, did you?" He folded his newspaper and laid it on the glass table beside him. "Saw him, and now you're going to run off with him, are you?"
"...I don't know what you're talking about," I said swiftly, wondering how on earth he could have known about Kratos.
"Don't lie to me. Someone came in here earlier and said she heard you talking to this Kratos-person and now you're running off with him to get married. And quitting your job!" Leon said angrily. "What are you thinking?"
I glared at him. "That's my business," I said cooly. "So I'd appreciate it if you left it alone."
Beneath that brown hair of his, I saw his temples pulsing, as if the cogs underneath that mop of his hair were spinning harder than ever. It also seemed he was restraining himself from yelling. Of course, with a voice like his, it'd scare the daylights out of anyone.
"Who tipped you off?" Isaid, taking advantage of the opportunity when he wasn't pelting me with questions.
"None of your business!"
"Then don't nose into mine!"
Leon gave me a hard, cold stare. "I really hope you know what you're doing," he said finally.
"Of course," I said.
He tried a different tactic. "You know we'll have to replace you. The tourists nor Asgard will be happy about this. You know this."
"Yes," I said calmly. "But I have decided."
"You're making a big mistake!" he growled. The lamp behind him made him look taller and lankier than ever as he towered above me. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, and once you step into it, you won't come back out!" He glowered at me. "I'm telling you, don't get married to that guy!"
"I am prepared to make that 'big mistake' then," I said, getting frustrated.
My tour manager glared at me furiously, but realized he was fighting a losing battle. "Fine then...But I warned you- I warned you! He doesn't love you, he just can't go on living all by himself."
"I don't care," I tried to sound tough. "All that matters to me is that I love him, and I'm getting married to him." Of course, I was lying through my teeth. I did care whether or not he loved me or not. He had to have at least some affection for me, didn't he? After all that we've been through, after all we've said and done! Why would he propose to me if he didn't love me? Unless...
It just couldn't be true. It couldn't be!
I refuse to believe it, I wouldn't believe it, I told myself. He loved me, and he still does!
Turning away, I stalked up the steps to my room, until I remembered that I had forgotten to get the keys from Leon. Sighing, I shuffled back into the lobby to get the key.

As before, he was reading the newspaper, though this time, with a furrowed brow dotted with beads of sweat.
"Er...Leon, you forgot to give me the keys."
He peered at me over the top of the papers. "If I give you the keys will you remain acolyte and not get married?"
"What do you think my answer would be?"
"And how should I know? Your mind works in strange ways, Raine," he said bitterly.
"Heh, you know me all too well," I stretched out my hand to recieve the keys, but he didn't give them to me. "So...the keys?"
"Why don't you ask Kratos to give them to you?" He snapped, throwing the paper aside.
I looked at him. This was the first time I had seen him in a rage over something like this. I felt inclined to laugh, but felt that would only spur his temper higher and more explosive.
"Do you intend to turn this into a shouting match?" I asked quietly.
He didn't reply, nor did he hand over the keys.All he did was turn his back and storm up the stairs.
And that was the last time I saw Leon Cervantes.

But there were other things on my mind other than the departure of Leon. I went to the other lodgings, only to be swiftly shut down.
"There aren't any rooms?" I asked.
"Sorry, no open rooms, miss," the clerk said again. "They're all booked because of the Water Ceremony."
I had to find a place to stay (all lodgings were totally booked) or I'd be sleeping on the streets. I knew I was running out of options, so I hurried to the dock. Hopefully, Kratos was still there...
"Lemonade! Get your ice cold lemonade, only ten Gald a cup!"
"Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and get a chance to win one thousand Gald!"
"Now now, boys, no need to fight, there's plenty for everyone!"
Shouts of the local merchants filled my ears as I pushed my way through the crowd. "Dammit," I cursed. There was the same thing I saw in almost all of these tourists; some of them who had shown up to Asgard looked as if they hadn't bathed in years, with hair that hung, matted and greasy, stubble coated with dirt on the men, emanciated faces of the women and children, all dressed in rags.I recognized the customary pointed, yet rounded, ears of a half-elf under their hair. Then there was the middle class and upperclass, who would jeer and and shove others out of the way to get a better view. I would shut my eyes, unable to watch what would happen. There were occasional news that half-elves were found dead outside the village, beaten viciously to death. It sickened me. To think that I had thought Genis and I had tried to reduce the prejudice against half-elves, and that that would happen...
The half-elves sat quietly against the buildings, or hidden in the alleys, and surveyed the bustling city with longing, desperate eyes. When their eyes landed on me, I could feel their sadness, that I would be one of the lucky ones, the few half-elves that could blend in with humans.
I shoved my way through, jostled here and there, and made my way to the docks. The ships had all left, so all there was were the little private boats and fishing boats left in the harbor.
Only one person was standing on the wooden dock. That person was tall, with auburn hair and clad in purple. When I saw him, I felt the breath catch in my throat, and I realized I was breathless from running all the way.
Not even five feet away, I heard him say my name in his soft, low voice. "Raine," he said, without turning around.
"Kratos," I acknowledged, and went to stand beside him. "It's pretty empty today," I gestured at the harbor. I knew it was a weak- no, very weak- pickup line, but that's what happened to me when I was nervous.
"Yeah," he agreed. He evidently thought so too, but he didn't say anything. Thankfully, he started a different topic. "Found yourself a place to spend the night?"
Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly the topic I hoped to discuss.
"Err...," I struggled to find the right words.
"Haven't found a place yet?" He nodded understandingly, but never looked at me. He just gazed out at thesea.
"Not quite," I stammered.
"Heh, got kicked out, didn't you? And the rest of the inns are booked."
"N-no! Well, sort of, and yes," I added.It puzzled me how he would know I hadn't gotten my key and had known all the hotels were booked...
"I'm going back to my old home tonight. It's secluded in theHima Mountains area," he stated, reading my mind. "Care to join me?"
I was relieved he had offered. There was no way I could have popped the question without feeling ashamed of myself. "Oh...of c-course..," I said weakly. "I...I'd love to."
Finally, he turned his eyes away from the setting sun to me. When his mahogany eyes settled on me, I became aware of the strand of hair stuck to my forehead. I blushed.
He wrapped one arm around my waist, and used his free hand to gently caress my cheek, lightly brushing the stray strand of hair back into place. "Then it's settled...Come," he said softly, his face inches from mine. "Come, we're going to our home now."
Our.
Not his.
Our.

The means of transportation was a Dragon. Seems the Dragon Tours proprietor had made quite a bit of money, but not from viewing the Tower of Salvation (after all, it had crumbled when the Giant Kharlan Tree went haywire), but for visiting Exire when the worlds had been reunited. Of course, Exire was a hidden city for half-elves, but when people had started to accept them, some individuals would go to try to persuade the people to come down to the mainland.
Anyway, the business had expanded quite a bit, with tours in Hima, Luin, Fooji Mountains, and Sybak. Kratos paid two-thousand Gald to get a first-class dragon for us. For many, two-thousand Gald would have been an insane amount of money, but years and years ago, the eight of us (meaning me, Lloyd, Genis, Colette, Sheena, Zelos, Presea, and Regal) slaughtered enough monsters to gain over a hundred million Gald. Lloyd gave Kratos a great portion of his Gald for all his necessities up on Derris Kharlan secretly. How his son did that, no one knows.

The ride was tediously slow, as the dragon seemed to be tired, and kept swerving and going off course. I sat behind Kratos, while he took the reins in his hands and tried to steer (though to little effect; the dragon was ill-trained).
"I'm going to have to get a refund, eh?" said Kratos humorlessly.
"Yeah...," I could have found that amusing if I weren't so afraid I was going to fall.I shut my eyes and wrapped my arms tighter around his torso. "You smell good..." I said aloud, without thinking. I felt the color drain in my face, and then flush back with full force as those words escaped my lips.
"I hope so," Kratos replied, laughing at the words and not me.
We were quiet for the next few moments, the sun setting blood red in the distance, sinking down along the horizon and casting its' reddish hue upon us. The trees swayed gently in the wind, and leaves rustled delicately. For a while, the only noise was the flapping of the dragon's wings.
Kratos broke the silence with an unusual question. "Red, yellow, white, peach, or pink?"
Those were colors of roses, I knew. "White," I said. White for purity. White for innocence.
"White roses, then," he said calmly and resumed the "driving" of the dragon.

It was a long ride, but finally, we came upon a fairly large estate in a valley between Hima Mountains. There could only be one word for it: Grand.
"Kratos, you said this was your old home, right?" I asked timidly.
"Yeah, it is. It used to be my grandfather's," he responded. "But we had to leave it for a while when my father became a Knight in Meltokio. I lived here for a short period of time before Kvar..." his voice trailed and he said no more.
But I knew what he meant. I knew he meant 'before Kvar caught and removed Anna's Ex-Sphere'.
"This is where we'll get off," he, amazingly, steered the dragon to land before the great doors. "They'll tend to the dragon."

They...?

To my reviewers:

Fenrir Hellfyre: Yup! You haven't read Ragnarok? Oops...just forget I said anything:) Anyhoo, glad to hear Kraine is a favorite pairing. Great minds think alike! lol Thanks for the review!

ShimaGenki: lol, yeah, it would be just like Lloyd and Colette, wouldn't it? Wow, thanks:D!

Cathree: hahaha, don't worry, it's not your fault! Frankly, I'm glad there's nothing to critique! There probably will be eventually... I can't remember everything that happens in the game...:shot:

Gaming Disgrace: heheheheh...I had to kill them off somehow...Because I couldn't fit them into the story...silly me :D! Well, I didn't like Regal much...but you'll find out more on all their deaths later on...like how Regal died, and Genis, and stuff.

Scarlet Kratos: Yeah, Raine is old. She's telling the story of her life (when she was young)...I hope you understood that, cuz I confuse myself XP

IBnBandgrl: lol...Don't worry...'rubs hands together' MWAHAHAHAHA! It's gonna get really really creepy...

Miss Raine Sage: Thanks! Heheheh...I had fun killing off Lloyd and Colette. I didn't want their ending to be serious...considering their personalities. So I picked something funny like that...:)

Amazon Bunny: heheheh, so concludes this chapter...Hang tight for the next, it's on it's way! Don't expect too much updates between now and August 23rd...Especially between August 5th to the 18th. Well, a preview of next chapter:
"To live a life without love is worse than a life than death, don't you think?" I asked softly, stroking his auburn head.
"I thought it was all over on Derris Kharlan. I thought I had nothing left for me. Everyone was gone. I was alone. Lloyd's words couldn't register in my mind anymore. I had seen enough, been through enough. I came down to Symphonia to see it one last time. Until I saw you." His voice was low, barely even a whisper. His skin had gone unnaturally pale, his eyes empty and hollow, as if someone had taken a spoon and scooped out all the life."I thought I had seen an angel." His hands trembled as they took mine into his. They were like a glacier, ice cold.
"Darling, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you!" I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. Where had the other three 'I love you's come from?
"Do you?" His voice was like a little child, lost and afraid. "Do you?"
"Yes," I said sincerely, closing my eyes and resting my head on top of his. "I really do."
We stayed this way for a few minutes, or, at least, it felt like a few minutes. It could have been an hour and I wouldn't have known the difference.
Kratos looked up, like before, like nothing had happened. The strong Kratos I knew was back.

No more spoilers! You're gonna have to sit through the next chapter!

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