Sanguine Saga

Rating: Right now I suppose PG-13 for blatant ignorant racism, I suppose, and Cius' potty mouth. XP BAD Cius!

Pairing: Cius/Joshua

Warnings: Shounen-ai (Boy x Boy love). Also Cius' potty mouth. XP

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean or its characters, or the conversations in the game.

A/N: Yes, Star Ocean (SNES) slash. I'm sure the designers, if they were dead, would roll around in their grave. I am so sorry. XD

Chapter 2

Sister

Cius slowly walked up to the immense rock covering what appeared to indeed be some kind of cave entrance. Lovely. All this for an artefact? And to help a fucking Featherfolk? Cius had to bite his tongue with his fangs to stop himself from swearing aloud. This was going to be one tough cookie, looking at the size of that rock. He gave a long, loud groan as he tried lifting the boulder from its original setting.

After a lot of pulling and panting in the already hot desert, the boulder was finally pulled enough to the side so that everybody could enter. Cius, now sweating profusely, turned to the Featherfolk, a smug smirk on his face. Well, I wonder what you're going to do to us now. Cius thought, still a little weary around the fuckin' winged man.

"Wow! You did it!" The winged being seemed genuinely surprised, which somehow annoyed Cius even more. Had the thing underestimated his strength? Damn, but he was insecure enough as it was for himself; he didn't need some weakass thing doubting his strengths too.

The Featherfolk named Joshua wasted no time and quickly stepped towards the entrance of the cave without even so much as a word of gratitude. "Hold on a minute." Cius said, closing the distance between him and the Featherfolk once more.

"What is it?" The being turned around, his eyes wide in fear. What is it so scared of? Cius wondered. Or had it suddenly grown half a brain and realise that Cius was not as weak as it had deemed him as?

The being seemed impatient, which made Cius growl in frustration, his tail swishing quickly in anger. Now it had the nerve to be impatient around them, after Cius had done it such a favour by removing the damn rock?

"I ain't never heard of Featherfolk adventurers. I thought you guys lived in the mountains your whole life?"

The Featherfolk remained silent for a while, as if pondering his next words. When it did speak, the low voice was much softer, almost an apology for the earlier impatience. "That's the plateau race… Highlanders are the same, are they not? Leaving the Astral Kingdom is tantamount to becoming a commoner?"

A fuck, the Featherfolk was a smartass! Cius was now growing very impatient with the Featherfolk as well, and he glared at the being. "You tryin' to tell me to keep my nose outta other people's business?" He growled, his tail now swishing back and forward at a rapid pace. He did not like to be reminded of his poor status right now, especially not after just having turned down an opportunity to restore his and his father's good name again. What a fucking insolent being he was dealing with…

Luckily for the Featherfolk's health, Ratix came forward after having witnessed Cius already-aggravated temper going through the roof and started to interfere. "Hey, you two!" was his heroic line, before he went to stand inbetween Cius and the Featherfolk.

Such harsh words, damn boy. Cius thought with a slight smirk. Ratix making an ass of himself was always a sure fire way to make him feel better. Even Fear made more imposing speeches than that.

"…I'm sorry, that wasn't very mature of me…" The Featherfolk uttered, completely aware of the effect its comment had had on Cius.

A grunt escaped Cius' throat. "Fine, if that ain't what you mean then that's fine with me. Bah. Let's go, Ratix." Cius wanted to make sure the Featherfolk didn't follow them, for whatever reason it might have, wanting to go inside this cave. After all the work they had done, this… Joshua better not be after the Eye of Truth as well. He kept glaring at the Featherfolk as he pushed it out of the way to enter the cave all by himself. He hoped Ratix would follow him now, or he'd be sure to look like a complete fool.

Joshua remained behind, awfully confused at the Highlander's harsh treatment of him. He felt slightly guilty, although he had not expected his words making such a harsh impact. He had only meant it as a polite way of telling the Highlander that, like the Highlander had said himself, it was his own business and he didn't like sharing it with everyone. He only wished he could have remained in the mountains with not a care in the world.

"…Was calling him a "commoner" an insult…?" Joshua spoke softly to his newfound friends Ratix and Iria. Atleast they didn't seem ready to jump at his throat, which made them trustable in his book, even if they weren't really friends. Unexpectedly, Iria stepped in front of him, smiling at him reassuringly. "That's just how he is, don't take it personally."

"Huh?"

"Basically, if you start to get too nosy, he sees you as meddling in his affairs." Iria replied, her smile widening. She was already used to her team-mate's antics, it seemed.

Joshua had a feeling Cius and he might have more in common than Cius might originally have thought. "Is that so?"

Iria chuckled softly. "He doesn't look like that kind of person, does he? He was like that when we first met him, too." Iria now laughed out loud, obviously remembering something funny that involved Cius. Abruptly, she stopped laughing, turning serious once more. "But you must have something troubling you too, right? If you didn't, you wouldn't have been able to make him so angry."

Joshua nodded, lowering his head as he stared at the sand under his feet. It was such a depressing sight to him; he preferred altitudes. "It's just as he said. The winged race… A Featherfolk such as myself travelling from place to place is not normal, no matter how you look at it. I am thought of as being eccentric…" Joshua sighed, for a moment allowing himself to wallow in self-pity. It had been such a long time ago since people had talked to him without automatically shunning him, much like Cius had done. "For that reason, I make sure to make no relationships with the people around me. To the best of my ability, anyway…" He trailed off, hoping he hadn't scared off the companionship he was around. These people seemed like a pretty eccentric bunch of people themselves, and they hadn't shunned him at first either, so perhaps

"Oh, if it's that bad of a problem, why don't you tell us about it? There's an old saying, "Relations between people are tied to prior relations in past lives.""

"What's that?" Ratix asked, mirroring Joshua's unasked question. Joshua had never heard of that saying before, although it had a bit of truth in it.

"It's an old saying on Earth." Iria replied, grinning at Ratix. She kept forgetting Ratix wasn't from Earth, as she felt like she had known him for most of her life already.

Joshua began speaking again. "The truth is…" He quickly turned around into the cave, intending to find Cius as he was really the one that needed to hear this. Joshua felt like his apology had not been adequate, judging by the man's harsh words towards him.

He nearly bumped into the Highlander as he had been waiting right in front of the entrance. Cius slowly turned around towards the being, intending to keep quiet around the Featherfolk as long as it didn't talk to him first.

"I am in search of my sister." Joshua said, staring directly into Cius' eyes, hoping the Highlander understood the significance of the feelings he had about his quest. "Huh?" Was the eloquent response Cius gave. He had obviously not expected that sort of confession.

"I am in search of my sister from whom I was separated when we were very young…"

To Cius, it appeared like the man was recalling something entirely too private, most likely something that had to do with the aforementioned sister. Why exactly did he wish to share this with Cius? Goddamn, but the being was annoying.

Still, he couldn't help but to feel a slight twinge of pain as the being stood there, still facing him in a determined fashion. Then Joshua closed his eyes and sighed, the memory apparently done playing in his head. "My parents were murdered. I was thrown over a cliff, but was able to survive. However, I am not certain if my sister is alive or dead… I shall never forget my mortal enemy." Fury started burning in the timid Featherfolk's eyes, which surprised Cius greatly. Like the being, he had really underestimated him, too, it appeared. The being had some spark in him!

The Featherfolk continued, the lithe frame shaking in rage. "That overwhelming, murderous gaze and that crimson crest shield… there cannot be two of them in this world!"

Cius heard a small noise coming from the back of his throat before he could stop it. What the Hell! "A crimson shield with a crest? Could it be the most renowned Edarl Swordsman, even among the masters?"

"You know him!" Joshua yelled with insistence. If this Highlander knew the link to finding his sisters, then finding his sister would perhaps not be so far off anymore. He closed the distance between them and took a hold of the man's shoulders, easily reaching them as he hovered in mid-air.

"Nah, it couldn't be… my mistake." Cius shook his head quickly, shrinking back a little under the Featherfolk's touch. The Featherfolk then realised what he was doing and quickly shrunk back from the man, hoping he hadn't made him angry again. He just really needed to find his sister… it had been so long since he had last seen her. And every second he hadn't found her made her more likely to have departed the mortal plane.

"I see." Joshua couldn't help but sound disappointed at Cius' discouraging reply. Cius tentatively reached up a hand to touch the Featherfolk's shoulder in an encouraging manner, then withdrew his hand again. Damn, getting touchy-feely on him would be too damn weird. Especially if he's acting like a fuckin' girl anyhow, bawlin' over his sister.

Instead, he nodded at the being, curtly. He took a few steps back, intending to keep as much space between the being and him as possible, and then decided something that would quite possibly change his life. "So, basically, you're lookin' for the Eye of Truth too, right? …Let's go. You'd have a tough time inside, all by yourself." Hell, Cius didn't want weak people putting themselves in danger when he could help them. For some reason, Cius felt like he'd care if they went in this Temple slash Cave and found Joshua bleeding to death on the floor by himself. Besides, he knew Ratix and Iria wouldn't let him go inside alone, either. Damn brats.

"Yes." Joshua nodded and smiled slightly. It was the first smile the Featherfolk produced, and it was directed at him. Cius suppressed the strange feeling of excitement and something else, and tried very hard not to think that Joshua should smile more often. The Featherfolk looked almost like a real person when he did that - and a beautiful one at that; his worried and serious air left immediately as his eyes started to sparkle.

Right at that moment Ratix and Iria entered the cave, breaking Joshua's tentative smile. Cius pretended not to mind the fading of the smile as the four people turned towards each other, regrouping now with an additional member to their team.

Cius only realised later on that if Joshua had acted as a fuckin' girl over his sister, then he had been doing the same thing over leaving Fear and Astral.