Hidden Truth-3

…. Monica was surrounded with three large Draquils; left with little options, she decided to use her strongest magic attack, the Omega Flame. She knew that one of the risks of this attack will be total vulnerability, if she ever missed one, she'll get herself killed. Then one of the Draquils charged at her, Monica made a weird hand signal, and then she lunge her sword down to the charging enemy's tail, trapping it. The other two charged as well but when they got too near… Monica unleashed a huge fireball, incinerating everything within its reach. When the flames died down, the Draquils were nowhere to be seen. Monica hesitated for a moment, but when she looked at the ground she saw one of the Draquil's tails still stuck to her sword, the rest of its burned into ashes.

Monica let out a sigh before she fell to the ground, "It's finally over… Max… where did they take you? Don't worry… I'm gonna save you... but wait… those monsters said something about…Rayne… that person may be my only clue to find Max, but something tells me that I've known this person a long time ago…"

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Meanwhile, in Max's Story….

….Max was left alone once again by the strange person that came to him.

"Who is that person? She looked so much like Monica… the same hair color but shorter. The shape of their face… the eye color is different though, but aside from that everything else is the same."

Max was stressed out because of too much thinking but he decided to clear his mind a bit to think of an escape plan first. He decided to closely examine the crystal first to look for any weak point, but without his weapons it might take him a while. Max looked at every side of the crystal, checked the shades of each panel of the crystal and knocked on every single panel as well. Unfortunately, not a single dent appears on any of the panels and without the dents, Max can't make an escape route anywhere.

Max just closed his eyes and decided to give up.

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On Palm Brinks, Monica decided to help the other citizens who were involved during the monsters' attack…. Cedric went to City Hall to talk to Mayor Need about certain matters, unknown to him, Monica followed him inside….

"Need, Max is missing! Can ya make a search party to find him?" asked a worried Cedric.

"I'm sorry Cedric, but after the monsters attacked us I'm pretty sure everyone is still traumatized about it, so I don't think anyone will help us find Max."

Cedric was about to lose hope, until Monica stood in the front door and replied, "Don't worry Cedric, I'll find Max."

"Ya will? Okay Monica, I trust you." With that, Monica hurried to Max's house to get her things and hurried back to the station.

"Dammnit, I forgot, I don't know where Max is so I don't think the train would be of much use this time." Monica thought to herself as she neared the station. "I guess I have to go there on foot…"

Monica decided to go to the park to think about a strategy before she goes anywhere else… but just at that moment… she saw her right arm glow blue, "Wha-wh-what's happening?" Her arm glowed so bright that it was too bright to look at. Suddenly, the whole area where Monica stood glowed as well, the people around her stood back, some ran away, others held their ground but covered their eyes because of the brightness of the area.

After a while, it glowed down, making it possible for the people to see what caused it. Monica opened her eyes first, everyone around her followed, and much to their surprise they saw the blue Atlamilia on Monica's arm, strangely though, Monica wasn't a bit surprised by this. It's like she wanted her Atlamilia to return.

"I knew it would return! I can feel that Max is not in this time period. My instinct tells me that Max is somewhere in my time." And with that, Monica went to the nearest time gate (which is in Sindain) and used her Atlamilia's power to go to her time period.

Unknown to Monica… Galen Agaris, Elena, along with Crest and other members of the Resistance knew about the time gate earlier than Monica did; Crest also foresaw that Monica was going to come back as well so they decided to surround the time gate and wait for Monica there.

Shortly, Monica appeared in front of the time gate in the future, but before Monica could even move, spears already surrounded her. She saw Galen and Elena as well as Crest looking at her with much sorrow in their eyes.

"Galen, what's the meaning of this! I have to do something… I have to save…" but before she can continue, four soldiers took her away from Galen and the others….

"Let me go! Elena… your son… Max… he's in… trouble… I promised… to save… him…" Monica explained as she struggled to get free from the soldiers' grip.

One soldier removed Monica's sword from her hands while the other three tried to wear Monica out.

Shortly though, Monica took care of the three guards. The other guard was about to call out more, but when Galen raised his hand, the soldier stopped.

"Listen Monica, did you even think of the risks when you came back to Max's time, well, did YOU? I explained it to you fully, that time travel is strictly forbidden, and still you went to the past without even telling us. You even involved Crest into this….."

Crest cut Galen off, "I joined her by my own will. Don't blame her for someone else's demise!"

"Then why did you allow her to go to the past? Surely you of all people must know that time travel is forbidden."

Crest lowered her head then replied, "I had a premonition, and I sensed something so evil and great wherever Max was headed. His life might end right now if he fought it by himself. Monica was with me during that time, and she heard all about it so she volunteered to save Max. I told her not to say it to anyone else, especially not to Max. You Elena, would you risk your own son's life just to obey the rules?"

Elena was speechless, but Galen interfered, "Well, what about this time gate then? If it weren't for Monica's recklessness, this wouldn't have happened."

Monica replied, now in a more anxious tone, "Right now, something even more sinister has captured Max, and I'm going to save him."

"Very well, but after you return Max, you, Monica must face your punishment. Just because you're a princess doesn't mean that you are an exception to the rules, in fact, yours must be even more severe, because YOU are the princess, YOU are one of the lawmakers and yet YOU disobey your own rules!" Galen replied with a much firmer tone.

"Yeah, yeah I understand. By the way, do you know anyone of the name Rayne?"

Just with the mention of the name Rayne made Galen shiver, "Wha-what about… Rayne?"

"Palm Brinks was attacked by a group of monsters being somewhat ruled by this "Rayne" person. Why do you ask? Do you know anything about him? If you do know something, please tell me."

"N-no n-no-nothing, I don't think you can find him here…."

Before Galen could continue, Monica interrupted him, "Wait, I got it! I heard my father telling me something about some mysterious woods far to the north of the castle. I guess I'll find him there."

"No, you won't find him there. If I may suggest, why don't you go with Crest to Starlight Temple? The Moon Crystal might know something about this "Rayne" person you speak of." Galen said with his casual tone.

And with that, Crest and Monica headed to Starlight Temple.

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"Galen, you know something. Please tell me, just who is Rayne? How is he connected to you?" Elena asked.

Galen took a deep breath before he spoke, "You probably don't know about this, but 15 years ago, in the Secret Order of Mages. All mages were supposed to have a hidden alias, a name separate from their own so that their enemies won't know about them… and Rayne is… none other than….Monica's mother, the late Queen Naomi Raybrandt."

Elena was shocked, "Bu-but she died remember? She died fifteen years ago. Remember, we were there during her burial! How could she have possibly been alive then? And how did you know about the Secret Order of Mages then, when it was supposed to be a confidential meeting? And why did she choose Rayne as her alias anyway?"

"Ray, the first three initials of Raybrandt... N stands for Naomi and the E, the last letter of the word Mage. She told me about it if ever anything goes wrong. She even told me that I mustn't tell it to anybody, not even to the king! Even I am surprised by this. How was she able to survive the war then? But as far as this conversation goes, Monica must never know about this from us. She must uncover it herself, by her own eyes. I know it will confuse her more than ever."

"Please Elena, don't ever tell anyone, especially not to Monica!" Galen said more anxious than ever.

"I won't tell her. I only pray that she will still regain her sanity and herself when she discovers who she will be fighting."

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Author's mini note and spoiler

Well wasn't that a nasty turn of events. Well it's only the beginning. I'm still trying to think what kind of theme will suit the next chapter. Okay toodles. Hope ya liked it. Please don't forget to review.

Spoiler

Max is gonna make another escape plan to escape from the clutches of this new enemy, but, whatever happened to that Draquil that's still lingering in Palm Brinks? And what's more, Monica is going to have to venture deep into the Woods of Yore to find Max, but will she really find him there? I don't know either.

P.S.- I don't own Dark Cloud 2.