Darkness of the Forgotten
It was the hottest night in Mizuho that Sheena Fujibayashi had ever experianced, her dark velvet hair moist in the humidity. She looked around the room, papers scattered everywhere along with her kimono draped over a chair by the opening of her tent. It had been so hot that she had resorted to nudity instead of her hot, yet comfortable kimono. Still looking across the space of the tent, Sheena noticed a familiar picture on the wall. From inside the frame came a different type of Sheena, the one wearing a rather revealing wedding dress, standing next to the one she loved.
She sighed. Life hadn't turned out the way she thought it would, Lloyd had been going steady with Presea for almost a year now, while Colette had Genis to keep her company. Sheena on the other hand had married the very same person that had annoyed her for so long during her quest to unite Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. Technically her name should have been changed, but then again, Sheena Wilder didn't suit her too much.
She sat up on her bed and stared closer at the frame. Who would have thought the her and Zelos would have hit it off? Not her apparently, but then again, why not? By saying all of those utterably stupid comments all those years ago, Zelos had become accustomed to her being around him for so long. After the tree had been named and the two worlds joined, she and Zelos couldn't stay away from each other.
Her thoughts were inteupted by the sounds of a baby crying. Sheena stood up from her bed and walked over to the crib nearby, leaned over the railing and scooped up her daughter. She began to softly sing into the ear of Sasaya Wilder, her dark crimson hair tickling Sheena's neck. The warmth of her child made Sheena blush as Sasaya began to calm down. It had already been four months since the birth, never forget that day, and Sheena's life had changed. Since she was no longer traveling or fighting, she had grown out her hair. It was almost as long as her husband's, the long velvet ponytail brushing against her back. Sasaya had fallen asleep and Sheena stopped singing. Placing her back in her crib, Sheena realized that one day, her child would no longer have a mother, and Sheena wouldn't be able to help her.
An uproar outside made Sheena jump. She grabbed a turquoise robe hanging on the wall, put it on, and walked outside. The villagers were all flocking to one area of the village. Sheena pushed through the crowd, purposely ignoring a grope at ther breast, and was suprised to see some familiar faces in the clearing of people.
Lloyd was waiving at the crowd, now taller than the grey-haired half elf standing next to him. Raine was holding a staff and waiving as well. But the real suprise was Colette. Over the years, maturity had set in, leaving Colette taller and as beautiful as ever. Colette saw Sheena at the egde of the clearing and immediatly ran over to her, the others following close behind her. Without saying a word, Colette jumped into Sheena's arms and hugged her. It had been a year since thay had last been together, so she knew the reason for the embrace. After being tapped on the shoulder be Raine, Colette released Sheena from her grip and stepped back.
"It's good to see you Sheena," Raine said, "but we unfortunately had to come here with bad news." Raine's eyes grew sad. Apparently, whatever was wrong, Sheena figured that she wasn't going to like it.
"Tell me what's wrong." Sheena said.
Raine nodded to Lloyd and he stepped up.
"Something is wrong with the tree," Lloyd said, "it's, well..."
"Its's dying." Colette finished, her eyes darkened from the words.
Sheena felt her heart drop. If the tree was dying, then that would mean...
"How did you figure this out?" Sheena asked.
"The guardian of the tree came to me in a dream." Colette answered. "She was using Martel's form, but she looked weak. She said that something bad was coming, something that was weakening her." Collete looked away, tears forming in her eyes. She had every reason to cry, if the tree died, the only way the world could still exist would be if it split into two seperate worlds again. Everything that they worked so hard for would be for nothing.
"Is there anything we can do?" Sheena asked.
Lloyd looked up at her. "Yeah," he said, "Regal says that whatever it is, it has something to do with the strange tempature changes in Flanoir. He's already gotten Genis with him in Asgard, and Presea is waiting at Lake Umacy."
Sheena was confused for a second, and then remembered that when the two worlds had joined, most of the cities had overlapped.
"We have the rheairds on the outskirts of the village waiting for us, get your things together and we'll go." Raine started to walk off but was interupted by Sheena.
"I, I can't go." She said. Everyone looked at her. "I have a daughter to look after, I have my own life now."
"It's okay Sheena," Colette said, the tears gone now. "Zelos is coming here to look after her while your gone."
Sheena knew that Colette meant well, but she didn't understand what having a child does to a woman. Sheena was tied with Sasaya, wherever she was, she could sense how she felt. But then she realized that if something went wrong and her friends needed her help, she could end up being the reason for the world returning to it's original state. This would ultimately result in not only the death of Sasaya, but the entire world. She had to do it. She may not like it, but it was her sworn duty to all of the summon spirits that she would protect the world as is.
"Okay, I'll go," she said, "but someone will have to watch Sasaya until Zelos gets here." Sheena looked around, but saw no one fit to watch over her only child.
"Maybe I can be of some assistance?"
Sheena looked as the small crowd around them opened up to reveal the man named Kuchinawa, his red suit standing out in the crowd.
"Would you do that for me Kuchinawa?" Sheena asked.
"Ofcourse," he answered, "Sasaya is a part of this village as are you, and as you know, Mizuho looks out for it's own."
Sheena nodded. She could trust Kuchinawa, no matter what he did, he always had her trust.
"But first," Kuchinawa added, slightly blushing, "you might want to get dressed."
Sheena felt the blood drain from her head as she looked down, noticing a that a great amount of unnecessary cleavage was being flashed to the entire village. She quickly covered up and ran to her tent, apparently not caring or not knowing that the bottom of her robes had been kicked up by the wind.
Lloyd could only stare at the sight, but was rudely awakened by a knock on the head from his ever present teacher.
"That's not for you to see Lloyd." Raine gave Lloyd the If-You-Dare-Look-Again-I-Will-Kill-You-Slowly look that he had seen very rarely. All he could do was smile.
Sheena arrived at the tent and quickly through her robe in a corner. She put on her underclothes and then her kimono, not caring about the heat, and then wrapped her trademark pink ribbon around her waist. Time were changing for Sheena, but in the end she would always be the great warrior that she was. She walked over to the crib and gave Sasaya a kiss.
A warrior with some new additions, and hopefully, she thought, one with a beautiful future.
And with that, she ran outside to catch up with the rest of her friends.
Presea Combatir stood silent while admiring the beauty of Lake Umacy. She remembered the stories she had been told about Raine using the horn from a unicorn that was in this lake to save someone's life. An act of bravery, and clearly noted.
The ripples of the lake were making her feel like...
There should not be ripples in this lake.
Fourtunalty Presea had caught it before it happened. The lake half erupted half exploded, sending water everywhere as she jumped to safety. This was not the danger she sensed though, that danger was what was hovering just above the water. A woman-like shape had appeared, it's body moving like unstable water. It was Undine, but something wasn't right, instead of the multishaded colors of blue and velvet, Undine was one shade. One shade of black.
"Undine," Presea said, gripping her greataxe in case worse came to worse, "what is wrong?"
Undine did not speak, instead outstretching her arms toward Presea as if she wanted to embrace. Presea was taken by suprise when Undine launched a spout of black water at her, hhiitting her directly in the chest.
Now normally, this would have just knocked Presea back, except that this was Darkwater. Darkwater had the same properties as regular water, except that instead of quenching the thirst, it increased it. Also, it didn't help that is was highly toxic to humans. Presea not knowing this, tried to fight her way out of the water, it's black tndrils wrappinng around her. But Presea was getting weaker by the moment, and the Summon Spirit was trying to end her.
This is it. I'm sorry Lloyd.
And with that thought, Presea Combatir fell into darkness.
The darkness of the forgotten.