Tales of a Journey

By: Rogue White Dragon (Dragoness)

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS

Chapter 22 – Long time no see

(Lan's POV)

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my reihard right where I had left it. Well, not where I had left exactly, but still, it was there, and I was quite relieved. After all, how was I supposed to travel otherwise, with my wound only half healed? Maybe I'd be able to travel slowly, but catch up to Siena? Wherever the heck she went? Argh, this could take me a while. Note to self, create some sort of tracking device to make life easy in the future.

Well, I guess there was one way I could possibly find her. Mom told me never to use them, though. She also told me to be kind to others, and that was before she yelled at Siena and chased her off. So, moral of the story? Parents don't listen to themselves. Alright, now, to see if it will work...I paused for a moment, realizing that if I did, elves from about everywhere would be able to sense their mana. Crud, there goes that idea. Last thing I need is to have Arkus's Elves come after me. Specially since at the moment, I'm alone, and would have a rather hard time defeating even one enemy, in my current state. (Authors note: I know that part might not make any sense, and if it did, yay for you I'm just trying to hint at something, for later chapters…)

Climbing onto my reihard, which wasn't as easy as it was before, I took the controls, lifted it into the air, and began steering it around Flanoir, before deciding to head east, which I assumed to be the direction to my left. I don't have a compass, so it's not like I can just look at the sun and decide.

Now, if I was Siena, where would I go?

(Siena)

I don't know how I got here, but I did. Meltokio, and it just took me just a few days to get there. That, and some boat trips, along with many a running sprints. If I wasn't in shape before, I am now. So, Metltokio is huge. I never realized before just how big it was. Though, the last time I was here, I guess it wasn't for sightseeing. The last time I was here, Lan was there too.

I grimaced, and tugged on one of my ears. Don't think about him, Siena, you just finally calmed down I told myself forcefully. Lan had to be alive, there was no possible way that Lloyd or the others would have let him die. Right? I found myself banging my head against a store's wall, and cursed inwardly. Ack, that would leave a bruise. Must not do that anymore. I smiled slightly, remembering the last time I'd done it, which took my thoughts back to Lan. I cursed loudly, drawing some strange looks, and quickly continued walking. Great, more people who think I'm crazy. Lan didn't, though, I don't think.

Grr, I stalked past a group of teenagers, muttering incoherently to myself. I glared at them, when I saw them staring. Stupid male humans. I shook my fist at them, and continued stalking towards some random direction. My stomach growled, so I decided on food. Food would be good. Now, if only I'd noticed that the human teens were following me…

(Lan's POV)

I tried Asgard, Sybak, and about several other cities, before finally going to Meltokio. It probably wasn't one of my greatest ideas, because Arkus was the king on Tethe' alla. Going to it's main city…I shook my head. Siena was crazy enough to actually go there. Maybe I should have just started off there. I sighed a little, and began asking some of the citizens if they'd seen an elf go by. Some gave me a strange look, and rolled their eyes, one man, though, gave me a small spark of hope

"You looking for that girl?"

I grinned, and replied,

"Yes, do you know where she went?"

One hand on my side, which was still sore, I waited patiently for a reply. The older man sighed loudly, and waved his hand

"She was hitting her head over there a little while ago. Pointy ears, right?"

I gave a nod, and went in the direction he indicated, grinning. That was Siena, all right, who else would bang their heads like that?

"Uh, excuse me sir, there was a girl here a little while ago, banging her head? Do you know where she went?"

I asked the store man eagerly. He was standing in the door way. I was so incredibly relieved that I was so close to find here. The world was a big place, after all, who knew how long it could have taken me?

"Her? She went that way. Is she ill, by chance?"

I grinned a little at the man, and gave a nod

"Just a little, sir."

I was joking, of course. She was as sane as she wanted to be. I went in the direction she was went, feeling a little giddy. She was close, I just knew it!

"You STUPID, FREAKING HUMAN!"

I froze, looking around quickly. That was Siena all right, but where?

"Get away from me, or I'll bloody burn you to a crisp!"

I followed the sound of her voice, and took off at a run, wincing just a little from the pain in my side. I found her in what I assumed to be some sort of city square, surrounded by about five other guys. One of them was leering at her, while two others were making some rather rude coments. I scowled at them, pulled out one of my daggers, and body slammed on the guys that moved toward her.

"Lan!"

Siena nearly shrieked. I spun around, dodging the fist of one of the other guys, and pressing my dagger against his throat threateningly.

"Back off, buddy, I don't want to have to clean my knife again."

The guy's face paled, and he backed away quickly.

"Why you little…!"

Another guy made as if to attack me, but was stopped when Siena threw a fire ball at him. He yelped, and quickly bolted. I glanced back at her, so see that she held another fire ball in each palm, and she was glaring at the other guys. I stood up, tapping the tip of my dagger against my chin. I felt like laughing. I'd never realized how threatening we could look before. I grinned at them when the other four finally followed the first and made a mad dash for it. I gave a quick glance around, people walked by, giving us strange looks.

"You two, your under arrest. Fighting is prohibited in Meltokio."

Siena and I turned toward a knight, and I glared at him

"That was self defence! They attacked her."

The knight shook his head, and replied

"I only saw you attack them."

We were silent for a moment, before Siena decided to put her fireballs to better use, and threw them at the unsuspecting knight. He made a startled sound, and Siena grabbed my hand, dragging me away at a dead run. I ignored the pain in my side, and followed her.

"Did you see the look on that guy's face?"

Siena was nearly jumping up and down with joy. I felt like buckling over, the pain in my side making me a little dizzy.

"Siena? My reihards over there,"

I said while pointing

"we should probably head over there."

Siena turned around towards me, and to my surprise, wrapped her arms around my neck, and nearly choked me in hug. I smiled a little, and returned it.

"Glad to see you too, but I can't breathe."

"Oh! Right."

Siena flushed a little, and let go. She took a step back, and stared at me long and hard.

"Your ok?"

Before I could give her a reply, she promptly pulled my shirt up, to inspect my side. She frowned a little at me, and stated

"There's a bandage."

"Yeah."

I replied. I sat down with a sigh, and she sat down with a loud thud in front of me.

"You're alive."

She stated, still staring at me

"Looks that way."

I replied, giving her a small grin

"Why don't you hate me?"

I sighed, shaking my head and replied

"You're my friend. Friends can make mistakes."

(Siena's POV)

I couldn't help but feel a little sad a the word 'friend'. What was I expecting, something else? I'm glad that he considers me a friend, and overwhelmed with joy that he's alive and breathing.

"Hey Lan, you all right?"

He was looking a little pale, and was breathing a little heavily. He grimaced a little, and replied

"We should get to my reihard. It's getting late."

It was just past noon, you dolt I thought with a frown. I stood up, and held out a hand to help him. He stood up, and we walked towards where ever it is that he parked that large flying machine. I smiled a little though, when I realized he never let go of my hand.

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(Raine's POV)

"Is everyone all right?"

I asked, looking around. A moan came from Regal's direction, so I made my towards him. It was a little difficult, because everything was dark in the small dungeon we found ourselves locked in.

"Presea?"

I asked, after finding Regal. I tried some healing on him, and succeeded in taking care of any major wounds. I had to save my strength in case one of the others was hurt as well.

"Genis, where are you?"

I called out to my brother.

"We're over here, Raine. Presea's either unconscious, or…"

He had a slight tone of anxiety in his voice, so I told him to keep talking, and my way over to him with Regal limping behind me. I exhaled slowly, and closed my eyes tightly when I knelt beside Presea. How were we going to get out of this?

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dun dun dun…it's a cliffie, ne? Hope you enjoyed the update. I actually finished it! Two in one day, I'm pretty happy about that. It's getting back to the story line, so I'm sorry if it seemed like I was making it go a little fast. Anywho, hope you enjoyed!