The Court Case

Disclaimer: I don't own ToS, Sales of Tomorrow, Things of Seles, The One Stable, Trees Outside Symphonia, or other things like that.

A/N: Well, finally updating. Ah, well…I just forgot about this sort of. It feels like forever since I last sat down and typed. But, now I will begin. That was really short.

Chapter 29: Striving for Goals

A dark, rainy, dull dawn awaited Sheena and company as they left back to their house. A perfect beginning to a perfect day. Sheena looked at the black sky, full of regret. It wasn't like things were all bright and peachy with anyone else, though. A note from Dialmond was left again, and this caused some concern from Emereld and Lapisa. This was the second storm the girl fled in. One day, she just might…oh well. Not something to talk of at such a dull moment. Astra had been quite silent since the way back, knowing she wanted to go there and maybe find a trace of Efil. The Mistress of Stars went to her separate room and laid on the bed. She thought she heard an annoyed Rubyi say, "I'm really getting to old to hear all these things." or something along those lines, but decided to ignored it. Sheena sat down next to the still-Lapisa; everyone had begun to stay up more because of Goldes' illumination, and Cresenta was too lazy to make it darker. He also said he didn't want to disturb the city, as it would be for the best. And, it wasn't like Scorch and Saphfyre were in a good situation.

"Oh, it's you two." Cali said, doing the annoying rush-hand-through-hair pose.

"Don't even get me started!" Saphfyre yelled, "You…" she readied the scythe, "Are dead! Knockout Fire!"

Saphfyre missed by a long shot and found herself facing a big blade, that had an odd resemblance to…

"The Eternal Sword?" Scorch yelled, "But that's…"

"Oh no, you're wrong." Cali said, "It's a look alike, but it probably has just as much power! Earth Tear!"

Cali put the sword down into the ground--with one hand, mind you--and the earth around the three split and twisted in crazy directions. Cali swung the blade a few more times and the storm seemed to get worse. Waves began to thrash around violently, and Cali saw a ship near them. Laughing, she swung once more and the boat was submerged.

"How could you--!" Saphfyre yelled, ready to attack.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I found this blade, and it seems to react to strong mana. And you should know how strong my will is, as well as my mana. I'll kill you if you come any closer."

"Question is…" Saphfyre replied, yelling, "Do you have the guts?" She rushed at the woman, who held out the blade in front of her. A sudden sharp gale threw Saphfyre against a wall of a building. Some people looked outside, but didn't do anything after they saw what Cali could do. The woman readied the huge sword again. Scorch put a hand on it.

"What do you want?"

"You. Come with me, I won't kill her. Deal?"

"Don't do it! Don't do it!" Saphfyre yelled from her position on the wall. Cali must have been holding her up; she hadn't fallen yet.

"Shut your mouth. Nature Sphere!" Cali removed the blade from Scorch's grip and shot a purple ball swiftly at Saphfyre. It connected, and the girl fell from the stance she had on the wall.

"Fine. Don't hurt her anymore. I'll come with you, Cali." Scorch gave her a solemn look. Cali smiled.

"Get on." Swinging the sword like it was a Rheiard, Cali got on the blade. She motioned for Scorch to come on with her. He sat there, and room was not spared due to Cali's efforts. She leaned herself back a bit more and flew off. "We're going to my house in North Tahjra. There, we'll discuss things."

"Fine. I'll do whatever you want. Don't hurt Saphfyre."

"Okay. But, you do have to do what I ask. Otherwise, I might forget our deal…"

"NO!" Saphfyre lurched up onto the blade's hilt, the scythe blade clinging onto it as well. Letting the blade go off the hilt, Saphfyre screamed very loudly and blindly swung. A huge gash in Cali's arm emerged, and the second swing…

To be blunt, the blade somehow shattered into pieces and those remnants disappeared. Cali then hit a wall--the same spot where she had hit Saphfyre into--and fell to the ground. Scorch said nothing, and looked at the falling Saphfyre. She had used up all her strength in those two sings, and was now falling at a fast rate. The LaHeart reached over to her and embraced. Smoothing out his landing by casting a quick Eruption spell on a storage warehouse, full of hay. The rain extinguished the fire that could have started, and Scorch patched up the hole he made. Carrying the weakened Saphfyre in his arms, Scorch ran to the nearest place for shelter, which so happened to be…

"Hey! Welcome to Goldes Casino! How can I--Oh, my Goddess! What's wrong? What's happened!" a woman sporting black bunny ears, a black skirt, and a black top. It was Altamira all over again.

"I--" Scorch began, but was cut off.

"There's not time for that. I'll take you to our nurse's area in the back." Scorch wondered if the nurses were as skimpily-dressed as this woman was. If so, wouldn't they have a hard time operating? The bunny-eared woman took him to the back and wished him luck for the both of them. She got a nurse and went back to the entrance. A nurse--that was fully dressed, than Martel--came and took Saphfyre into a room. Scorch was forced into a waiting area. He then wondered where Cali got such a sword. How could she find something like…like that! I didn't make sense, but he knew Cali was one to blurt things out in a spur of a moment. She must have found the sword, but where?

Meanwhile, Cali got up. Mad that she lost her new weapon, she kicked a wall, then healed herself, then continued her assault on the wall. When she was done with that, she shot a few fireballs into the air and was mad she wouldn't find a sword like that again. It was a copy of the Eternal Sword, strangely found at the entrance of her house. But who…

Dialmond got up. She had been blown off course. Where the heck was she. She knew it just a little further to Lloyd's, but where was she? Getting up from the grass, she got on her sword again and looked around. Guessing on a direction, she flew towards what she thought might have been Lloyd's house. As luck would have it, the dual swordsman was out for a walk to think about the very girl that was above him. Dialmond didn't see the man, however, and continued in her direction. Suddenly, a huge bolt flashed down from the sky and blasted Dialmond downward. Lloyd saw this and dived for her. Dialmond was unconscious, and the dual swordsman headed back home, holding the girl tightly to his chest. When arriving at his house, he set the girl on the couch. Hours began to pass, but Lloyd waited. Colette would come sometimes and offer him food, but the dual swordsman declined. Kratos said nothing when he saw the girl and continued to his room, which really was originally a guest room, but Dirk let Kratos treat it as if it were his. Speaking of which, the dwarf had also seen Lloyd sitting there, and then also continued to his work. The house had become so much bigger, but peace spread from the rooms. However, the wasn't tranquility for Lloyd. That is until, Dialmond woke up.

"You're all right! Oh!" Lloyd embraced the girl, and she returned, but…she pushed off of him for a moment.

"Who are you?"

Flaren lazily pulled at the lever of the thing called a slot machine. Sometimes a lot of Gald would come out, or a little, or none. She overheard some guy say a crazy blond chick with a big sword caused some other guy and a girl to get hurt. Flaren thought they probably just pissed the girl off over something stupid and got mad that people were stupid. She then thought how this reminded her of Scorch, Saphfyre, and Cali and then laughed a little. Her surprise then came when she found out it was about Scorch, Saphfyre, and Cali. What the hell. Try to relax, and this comes up. Flaren rushed over to the nurse's office, hoping the people there weren't so scantily dressed. She really wanted to get her mind off of telling Universa to tell Sheena how he felt. But, it wasn't her fault, right? It's not like she told him to leave if he got rejected or anything…was it her fault? The thoughts overflowed her as she ran into…

"Ow! Jeez, I just got out of the room, and now--oh, hey Flaren." Saphfyre straightened herself up.

"Hello. I heard about what happened? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm okay, but that girl--I swear!--is going to die!"

"Then I'll cheer for you! Yeah!"

The two girls then high-fived each other. Flaren then cleared her throat and Saphfyre continued.

"Yes. It was nice of you to come. Why are you here?"

"Uh…no reason." Flaren said, blushing. She couldn't tell Saphfyre she loved gambling! Flaren then asked, "Uh…where's Scorch?"

"Cute little guy fell asleep out of nervousness. I love him so mu--oh sorry, you probably don't want to hear that, do you?"

"Not really." Flaren returned, laughing.

"Yeah…" Saphfyre said, "But he's alright. I've been walking around waiting for him to wake up. To tell you the truth, I'm really glad to have met him, to have met you, and even to have met Sheena. It's strange, we're all under the same room, but more than half of us are in a trail against one another!"

This caused Flaren to laugh a bit and caused an overlooking Scorch to smile. Saphfyre was a great person. Putting a hand on the leader of the Redjewels' shoulder, Scorch began to speak.

"Oh, hey Flaren. We're all ready to go now, right Saphfyre? I'm kinda tired…"

"Even though you slept for three hours." Saphfyre returned, laughing, "But yes, we can go. See you, Flaren."

"Goodbye." Flaren waved, rushing back over to her slot machine. Okay, she was hooked. But she always, always won much more than she lost. So it was okay, right?

Embre woke up again. Raise was in tears again. She knew what was going to happen. Raise was going to break up with Universa. It was inevitable. Tears et loose once again, and the girl couldn't take it. She really, honestly, wanted to punch the "father" of hers in the face. Honestly, what kind of asshole does that? What the f--well, Embre knew she shouldn't swear, but she screwed that fact over and yelled out what was in her mind. The people that were awake got silent and Singe came up to Embre's room.

"What's wrong?" the general asked.

"Bad dream." Embre replied, not facing her eldest sister, "Now go away."

"I'm sorry." Singe shut the door and left. Embre then attacked the pillow closet her and cried some more.

Sheena felt terrible beyond words. She sometimes scolded herself for clinging on to something that wasn't there. That was dead. Not alive, but dead. Dead! Sheena knew it was selfish, but she needed Zelos. She felt everyday was a huge battle, a trial for her. It was hard, but she would never give the man up. Never.

A/N: That was an okay ending. STUPID CALI! Well, we won't be seeing her for a while. She's learned that Saphfyre is one tough piece of pie. And now, what the heck went up with Dialmond? Strange, strange, strange! Oh, well. Find out when I update again.