Okay Hi everyone. Before we get started I'm going to take the time to apoligize to you guys for the late update. I know that I promised blackrose that it would be up at the beginning of the week but unfortunately weather doesn't like to cooperate with me and it's been storming pretty much all week and we lost power about 5 times, so I haven't worked on it much this week for fear that the power would go out while I was working. So again I'm sorry. On we go.
Chapter Seven
"I can't believe this is happening!" I yelled to Gale over the howl of the wind as we soared through the air back towards the Tower of Mana. I couldn't think of a reason why the Martel Knights would be headed for a place like Luin, there was nothing there. As we flew back I looked along the ground, hoping for some sight of Emil, Marta, and Tenebrae. I didn't see them. "Gale, turn around we're going back to town."
I guess it would have made sense that they were already back, I had told them how to get out. Seeing as Gale's wingspan was longer then two of me put together we made it back within a decent amount of time. I didn't land though. I would have better luck searching for them from above. Low and behold if I didn't spot them minutes later as they walked towards the mayor's house.
"Marta! Emil!" I jumped and landed in front of them causing Emil to fall backwards. "Sorry, but we have some big problems headed this way."
"What…" Marta stopped to turn and look at the group of men that had come up behind her.
"Lady Marta! We've been looking for you." I wrinkled my nose at the one who was talking. He wasn't very attractive to begin with and that widow's peak didn't help at all.
"Hawk." Was all Marta said in reply.
"Is he a friend of yours Marta?" he was ignored.
"Commander Brute says that if you return Ratatosk's core, all will be forgiven and you will be accepted back into the Vanguard." Hawk continued.
"You're a member of the vanguard?!" Emil stepped back in shock, while I wasn't all that surprised.
"You can tell Commander Brute that what you did, what all of you did, isn't something that I can forgive."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Don't act dumb. I'm not giving up Ratatosk's core." As Marta said this I drew my sword out of the sheath. I was fairly certain that we were going to get tackled after she got finished.
"Then we'll show you no mercy. Men, seize Lady Marta!"
Where's Ganesha when we need her; her powers would be very welcome right now, oh that's right she's with that idiot chosen in Meltokio. I jumped when one of the Vanguard members took a swipe at me with a bow and did a back flip.
"Oh, you people just love pissing me off today!" I pared his blows but he was to slow when I decided to hit back and my sword went through his stomach and poked out of his back. "Oh great, stomach acid."
I turned when I heard a battle cry headed for me, that was realized that there were only two of them compared to three of us and Emil's wolf that had decided to join us. Actually there was only one as I looked down at the one I had shoved off my blade with my boot. I stepped to the side and let the other run past me before pushing my sword through his back and twisting it. I pulled it back out when I heard a satisfying popping sound which meant I had probably damaged his spinal column.
When I looked back up the man named Hawk was staring at me with a glare that could rival a demon.
"Lady Marta, Emil, and Ilex we must leave this place at once." Tenebrae finally decided that is was safe enough to show himself.
"You're right, let's go." I took off running with Tenebrae as Marta grabbed Emil's arm and followed closely behind us.
We ended up in the fountain plaza, but Hawk and two more cronies of his weren't far behind.
"Get them, move." He shouted at them. Maybe he was too scared to try and come after us on his own. As they made their way towards us I stared in horror as the Martel knights, which I had seen, came up behind them and knocked them all out.
"You're from the church of Martel." Marta said.
"That's what I was trying to tell you." I told her angrily.
"I am Magnar. Commandant of the Church of Martel; by the orders of Lloyd the Great I have come to take the demon lord Ratatosk and the centurion's core."
"You're all the same." Marta said sharply.
"Hand it over and I will guarantee that none of you will be harmed. However if you refuse this town with suffer the same as Palmacosta." Magnar warned.
"Same as Palmacosta, what does he mean?" I looked at Emil sadly.
"What boy, you don't know? The foolish Vanguard planned to use Ratatosk's core to start a rebellion in order to destroy the Church of Martel and the Chosen." Magnar sneered at him.
"Lloyd killed all of those innocent people to steal Ratatosk's core and to quall the rebellion." I fought the urge to contradict her. Lloyd trusted me not to say anything about him collecting the centurions cores, but it was so hard to listen to others put him down.
Emil's eyes narrowed in anger. "That's what my parents died for?"
"Imp my servant, go! Lady Marta, Emil, we must leave town now." Tenebrae decided to interrupt our little conversation.
I saw the imp go down as we were running down the bridge. There was no other choice. I made a swift turn and started running back towards the Martel Knights. When they saw me coming they lifted their spears to meet my blade, but they weren't fast enough. My blade pierced the armor of one instantly killing him, and the other one was sufficiently injured before the Commandant locked his giant jostling spear around me and flipped me down on the ground. I bit him savagely on the arm, and then made a wild grab for my blade as he tried to stab me with it. A giant blur of red covered me.
"Richter!" I could tell immediately who it was by the butt pouch that blocked my view. He turned to look at me and offered me a hand. I had started standing up when Magnar started talking again.
"Foolish barbaric Sylvaranti listen well, I am Commandant Magnar, of the glorious Martel Knights. We have come here to arrest the vile vanguard for their crimes; blasphemy against the church and inciting a rebellions and discontentment across the world. However, we have also recently received reports from Lloyd the great stating that the people of Luin have been engaged in sinful cooperation with the vanguard. Therefore this whole town, along with the vanguard, now faces charges of treason against the chosen. But I will grant one final opportunity to redeem yourselves. A girl named Marta is hiding in this city. Bring her to me. Do so, and Lloyd the great may very well forgive your crimes."
"Well, that was a mouth full. You going die over there, because if you are, we'll help you along." I gestured towards Richter and myself, and noted vaguely that Richter still had a light grip on my hand. Seeming to read my mind he let go, I was glum.
"Seize them men!" Magnar jabbed his jostling spear towards us. Richter and I took off running. I could plainly see him limping, and his jaw would twitch when his feet jostled the rest of his body.
"Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say?" I said sheepishly.
"Oh, you think?" Richter replied. "I want to ask you a question, why did Aqua tell me that you told her to tell me that your eyes appreciated my butt pouch when I woke up?"
"Yeah, about that….she wasn't supposed to say anything unless I died, but obviously that is a concept that centurions don't comprehend." I rubbed the back of my head and laughed nervously as he looked at me strangely.
We made it back in front of the inn before we stopped running. Richter turned to look at me while I was trying to straighten out my blade strap as it had once again come loose. He was panted a little harder then someone as fit as him should've but I figured it had to do with his wound.
"This is where we will say farewell." He told me.
I raised my gaze to meet his. "Well then, it was nice meeting you. You might be a jackass but you're not that bad." He cringed while I laughed. He handed me a couple of gels after I recovered from laughing, told me that it probably wouldn't hurt my health to be a little less reckless, and walked out of town and out of my life. Wow, what a depressing thought.
After I swallowed two apple gels and one orange gel I decided that I was in good enough condition to go back and face my doom at the hands at some guy dressed in shiny metal. I turned around and took the way we had come. I couldn't see any people on the street but that wasn't surprising; people had a sweet disposition to try and keep from dying. It was only natural of course.
The Martel knights were looking in my direction when I finally made it back to the plaza, but they weren't paying any attention to me. I stared in horror of who they were looking at. That fool girl Marta had come back into town and apparently was giving herself up to the Martel Knights. Something told me that Emil had said something that was a little tactless and she had decided that he was right.
"Oh man, what the crap are they thinking? Don't they have any sense at all?" I refrained from slapping my forehead in frustration. Calm down Ilex, violence never solved anything. Violence against one's self really doesn't solve anything, but they again, hurting bad guys always made me feel better. I decided to pay attention to what they were saying.
"I'm here now, are you satisfied?" Marta was saying.
"Tell us where Ratatosk's core and the other centurion's cores are." Magnar demanded.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear a please in there." My comment earned me their attention. I smiled coyly and wiggled my fingers in there direction. "Hi boys, how ya'll doing?"
I let the knights grab me and force me down on my knees with my arms locked behind me. I was stronger them…probably. I could break out of it when the need arose.
Marta spoke up again after giving me a look that clearly said that she was judging my mental state to be fairly poor. "I don't have a centurion's core, but Ratatosk's core is right here." She pointed to her forehead. Oh yeah brilliant. "If you want it that badly you'll have to take it with my head."
"I don't think that encouraging them is the right way to go here. Remember the goal is to get out of town alive Marta." I looked at her and then back at Magnar when he made a noise.
"Hm… what a marvelous idea. I think I will." He threw out his hand. "Seize her men."
Two knights rushed forward to grab Marta and lock her in the same position they currently held me in.
"Alright we no longer have any need for this town. Hand down the divine punishment they deserve." Magnar cried when they were sure Marta wouldn't be able to escape.
"No, wait a minute you said you'd…" She started
"Oh give it up, you didn't honestly think for a minute that they would stick to their word did you." I looked at her and she refused to meet my gaze. "Oh for the love of flitter bugs, are you that naïve?"
"That's enough. Silence!" I turned to stare at him angrily.
"Okay listen to me you over sized tin can, I don't listen to anyone except one person and she happens to be on another continent at the moment, so your ass is just out of luck. You ever try to tell me what to do again and I'll rip the part of that suit protected a certain piece of anatomy off and then stab you there." I could practically hear myself hiss as the commandant paled.
"The orders of Lloyd the great are absolute. All right men the time has come. Pillage, kill, show them the divine justice of the goddess Martel." He continued.
"Oh I'll show you divine punishment!" I broke the strangle hold the knight had on me and rushed towards the commandant. He might have been faster at any other time, but the metal suit weighed him down to much and he wasn't able to move out of the way fast enough to evade my foot connected with his face.
No matter what I did to their commander the knights had already spread out around town and I crouched to the ground as I heard the screams of the horrified villagers. Explosions rang out across the village and I saw that Emil had finally come to join us. He stood at the top of the stairs that lead to the plaza, and looked down with a terrified expression on his face.
"Oh no, stop it!" If he said anything else I couldn't hear it because of the explosion that went off so close to him that it blasted him off the stairs and a couple of feet away from Marta. She stared like she wasn't sure if he was still breathing or not.
Suddenly a dark aura welled up around him and he slowly put his hands palm down to the ground and raggedly pushed himself up.
"Didn't you hear what I said?! I said stop you miserable swine!" He ran at two of the soldiers and kicked one, grabbed his spear before it fell and used it to flip the other one, before sticking it in the ground and walking toward the commandant. He drew his sword as he walked; I pulled mine out in his lead and closed in. "I'll teach you the true meaning of divine punishment."
Without being told I charged along side of his toward the commandant with my sword ready for the attack. While Emil kept him busy I jumped into the air and readied an attack. My blade pulsed green when it was ready.
"Pristine Gale!" I screamed. The air around me started spinning wildly while I remained with in the eye of the storm. The storm rotated around and made contact with the enemy. I jumped out of the eye and landed beside Emil. "You know how to do unison attacks." I asked.
"Yep." That was all I needed before we launched into action. We jumped at the same time.
"Demon Fang!" the attack was called simultaneously.
Magnar fell.
After we were sure that couldn't do anything else to anyone Emil walked to where Marta was still sitting on the ground. "Stand up, Marta." He held out his hand for her.
"Emil." She replied as she let him help her stand.
When she was up Emil walked over to where I had Magnar sitting.
"I don't understand. What are you?" He asked.
"The question is who the hell are you?!" Emil started to punch him. "Well let's see your divine punishment now. Go ahead, show it to me! You are you listening?"
I stood there not looking. I knew that R. Emil had some temperamental problems and wouldn't listen to me, even if it meant it would keep him from getting his ass kicked. But Marta did not understand like I did, oh well.
"Emil. That's enough Emil stop it!" Marta's voice seemed to be enough to snap him out of his little fit, because good Emil came back.
He let go of the commandant, who sat back coughing, and looked at the ground.
"What….what did I do?" I cursed when he ran off. I turned to Magnar.
"I received a nice piece of information from someone once, I think now it's time to pass it on. If life gives you lemons you squeeze it in someone's eye and haul ass. You were given your lemon and you did just that, now I think it's time that you and all your cronies to haul all your asses out of here." I turned around and stalked off. I went in the direction that I had seen Emil run while I noticed that Marta went towards the mayor's house.
I found him standing in front of the inn with Moll and Dida running away. I sighed in sympathy for him. I hoped that he wouldn't always be treated this way. I walked up and clapped him on the shoulder. We stared out over the dry lake bed for a couple of minutes until Marta walked up beside him.
"Both the Vanguard and the Martel Knights have left town. The mayor wants to talk to you, will you come."
Emil only nodded and I lead them down the bridge. I curse when I saw who was in front of the mayor's house. Emil stopped short in front of his aunt and uncle.
"Emil…" Flora started to say.
"Aunt Flora I…" Emil didn't get a chance to finish due to Alba running between him and Flora. He spread out his arms as if Emil was trying to hurt her.
"Get away from us you monster!" He yelled at Emil. I grabbed his arm and yanked him out of Emil's face and resisted the urge to punch him in the face. This kid just saved the town, had he no respect.
"How could you?!" Marta yelled at him, as I continued to sneer at Alba. She didn't know his aunt and uncle, especially not Alba.
Emil shook his head. "No it's okay. It's okay." He repeated it much more sadly then before. I wish there was something I could do for him. We needed Richter, badly.
Leaving them behind, we continued into the mayor's house. I smiled emptily at the owner but didn't put any effort behind it. The mayor was waited when we made it up the stairs.
"Emil, that you for coming. I have a favor to ask of you." He said.
"What sort of favor?" Emil asked in reply.
"I want you to go find Lloyd for me." This immediately set me on edge; thankfully no one seemed to notice.
"Is this your way of telling me to leave?" Emil asked completely distraught.
"No, I simply can not believe what just happened here. The Lloyd I know would never allow this kind of slaughter and looting, even by order of the church." Oh thank you Martel; finally someone that didn't think that Lloyd was guilty of some sort of crime.
"But…" Emil started, but the mayor cut him off.
"I didn't believe what you said about Palmacosta until today. But it seems the same thing almost happened to our town. I'm just not sure what to believe anymore."
"Mayor, it doesn't take much for people to change." Emil spoke with bitterness on his voice.
"That may be so." The mayor said in reply. "Which is exactly why I want you to investigate this. Why Lloyd changed like he did and why he's looking for Ratatosk and the centurion's cores.
Marta spoke finally. "So this is how you plan to protect Emil from the fear of the towns' people."
"The people of our town are easily frightened. Please forgive them. But I also believe that this is for your own good.
Emil looked at the floor for a few minutes then said to the mayor. "I will look for Lloyd, and then I will avenge my parents."
I didn't say anything about how unlikely that was. Seeing as Lloyd had gone up against the guy that had separated Sylvarant and Tethe'alla in the first place and won, it seemed pretty far fetched.
"I understand. I won't try to stop you. Emil, our town may be full of people who fear you, but this is still your home. I know it may be hard to believe now, but once things calm down, I want you to come back."
"I'm sorry I caused so much trouble." Emil said before walking toward the stairs.
"Emil...," the mayor's voice stopped him, "Thank you, for saving Luin." Emil said nothing and started walking again.
When he was gone I decided that now would be the best time to turn in my resignation. "Well I don't think you'll have to worry about monsters anymore and it wouldn't surprise me if the lake comes back up soon too, so I think that my services are no longer needed." I offered him my hand and we shook.
"Once again I want to thank you for all you have done for Luin over the past few years. I don' think we could've rebuilt without all the help you rallied." I gave him a laugh, said nothing else, and jumped out the open window behind me. Without saying good bye to Emil I called Gale and we flew off towards Palmacosta, no doubt Luke was going to kill me when he saw me.
Finally we are at the end. I don't really think I did to well with this chapter, but then again I think that all the stuff I right is crap so anyways.
just a little FYI the story is going to go through a little bit of a time jump. there really is no need for Ilex to travel with Emil and Marta through all their adventures in Asgard so she's going home to Palmacosta and therefore the story will pick up in the next chapter where Emil and Marta are arriving in palmacosta. This is because that if you have played the game you know that after luin the next place you meet Richter is in Palmacosta, so this is just to save time and me a little extra work (Cause I'm lazy)
Also I know that they don't really tell you about anything that happens in town when Marta and Emil are in the forest, but I thought I would put a cute little surprise encounter in there. It makes me think of a guardian angel.
anyway sorry for any spelling mistakes or grammer screwups, but I didn't really go over it since I was trying to get it up as fast as possible. Comments and reviews are welcome, as is critisism of any kind. Although mean critisism makes me depressed, but that's your choice I guess. Bye-Bye.
