Wow, I'm not dead! Huzzah! Sorry if I took a long break, but writer's block pops up at the worst times. Like after you just got a few reviews. And sorry if the fight scene stinks, but I didn't really know what to do with it. Really, I'm sorry. Okay, I really need to stop doing that...
Oh, and three reviews! Not to mention a favorite! Yay! *skips around in a Support Malpercio suit* Er... I didn't write that. Anyway, thanks to Fan Fan Girl(you're really awesome, you know that?), for noticing my errors! Seriously, what was I thinking? I need to go change that... And also, thanks for the favorite,kuro-kitsune-neko! You all get...er... Marno plushies! Yay! ...Okay, I don't really know what to give. But those are good, right?

Disclaimer: I do not own Baten Kaitos Origins. Marno would have gotten more lines if I did. That would be pretty awesome, actually...

Chapter Two: "I think this line is mostly filler"

As Sagi walked through the hall, I tried to find some way to ignore what our mission would be about. It was rather hard, seeing as we were headed to get Guillo, who we needed for said mission. After realizing it would be pointless, I sighed then looked up.

I saw the silver haired lady from the strategy room leaning against the wall. She looked up at Sagi, and for some reason I did not like her smile. Not one bit. Despite the fact she had chased off about a dozen Servicemen who tried to fight us.

"You know, you might want to watch your mouth there, ghost boy." She called out to him. My temper flared. Ghost boy? What the heck?! Does being a spirit get you no respect at all? Not cool! She straightened up then walked toward us. Well, she could only see Sagi, so I guess she wasn't technically walking towards me..."The Service is filled with men a lot scarier than you. And if they catch wind of what you said in there..." Ironically, as soon as she finished that sentence, three Servicemen ran out of the strategy room. I saw them look around, then send a triple death glare at Sagi. Perfect. More trouble. "Now see? What did I tell you?" she continued as she shook her head. What is her name? It starts with a V, I know that much. "If you want to stay alive, you'd better learn to keep a low profile." With that cheery statement, she walked off. I could swear I saw a smirk on her face.

However, I didn't have a lot of time to think on that, since the three still-glaring soldiers ran over to Sagi. Knowing what they were probably here for, I automatically checked how they were standing. It was my job, to see where the enemy was weakest. As much as I dislike her, Guillo did have some useful ideas.

"Hey, tough guy?" The guy on the left yelled at us. Even when his helmet was down, I could hear a sneer in his voice. "You think what we do is dirty, huh?"

"Yeah, your point?" I replied to no one in particular. Well, I guess since Sagi could hear me... Oh, wait! "Get your magnus out." I told him, nodding at the group's ready guns. I saw him reach into the pouch around his waist, where our oh-so-lovely magnus are kept. I did a quick mental checklist. We have 4 weak power ups, 4 medium power ups, 4 strong power ups, a punk knife augment, Sagi's main sword, a reusable low potion healer, our new herb magnus, Will, Scencion, and a cheap suit of leather armor that Sagi never uses. We should have a good chance. After living with him all his life, I had learned to think fast hanging around Sagi all the time. I swear, he'd poke a thunderfish while it was sleeping to see what would happen.

"Little runt." I flinched. If they lay one hand on him... "When Lord Baelheit tells you to do something, you keep your mouth shut and do it." The soldier on the right spoke up this time. I wished I could punch them all in their faces and have them feel it, but since I was a spirit, no chance.

"Yeah, we don't need any snot-nosed punks in our ranks." The way the other two nodded, so I was guessing this was the leader. Take him down first. I saw he was leaning too much on his right leg, so he'd be off balance a bit. That will make this easier. "Maybe we can beat some sense into you!" Okay, he's going down anyway!

"Alright, your ass is mine!" I yelled at him. Sagi took this as his cue to release his sword from the magnus and get into fighting position. I once again wished they could hear me. Having that yelled at you by a transparent spirit might be a bit unnerving.

For some reason, Sagi has the best luck when grabbing magnus at random. Not that I'm complaining, but still. First he pulled the punk knife out, and added onto his sword. Then he got really lucky and pulled Will out. Once he used it, I could see his strategy, knew the three were not going to enjoy it one bit.

"Sagi, get the leader's left leg!" I directed him, and he nodded, pulling a few more magnus out of the pouch.

The main guy shot at him, which he ducked under, but dropped one of the magnus he was holding. I couldn't see what it was. However, that same guy was attacked by a combo of a weak power up, medium power up, then a strong, and it was rounded off with Scencion. While the sudden drain in energy does take some getting used to, I though it was awesome. Sagi also got his left leg with the Scencion, so he went down. He probably would have been downed anyway. While the other two were staring in shock, Sagi looked back at me. I pointed and the first person who talked, then at his right side. Nothing more needed to be said, and after a medium attack and a strong one, he went down easily. However, our punk knife magnus's effect wore off after that, and one guy was left. That guy took his chance and shot at Sagi's arm. Luckily for us, and we have really good luck apparently, it only grazed him. But through our link, it still hurt. I hope he enjoyed that Scencion! That weak and strong power up must have hurt, too.

I smiled and got ready to give Sagi a high five with his uninjured hand, when I saw the leader crawl over to where Sagi magnus our dropped. Okay, screw our luck. We'd dropped our low potion magnus, which he used on himself, and shot Sagi's leg before I could warn him. I let out a stream of curses as Sagi dropped his sword and grabbed where the shot had landed. Then, he then used my magnus on his friends that were laying on the ground. How did he get up after that attack?! He was hit harder then the others! Probably had a stupid armor thing on...

"Hmph, is that all you've got? I expected more from a spiriter." The leader guy taunted. After that, I was ready to unleash any power I had to get rid of this guy. He made we want to kick a fluffpup to death and eat it raw. And I think fluffpups are awesome. His friends started laughing.

"Heh, maybe his spirit's off taking a nap right now." C'mon, anger management. Don't get mad, don't get mad... I could feel Sagi was already starting to get pissed, and I didn't want to add on to that. Anger makes you stupid, remember?

"Seriously," the other one laughed, "it's not like we can even see it. How do we know it's real?" Okay, screw staying calm.

"Do you want to die?!" I growled at them. Yes, growled. Not a very happy spirit right now, let me tell you that. Sagi also was not very chipper, to put it lightly.

"What, are you calling me a liar now?!" Putting it very lightly. We wanted to shove a sword through their faces. And then laugh as I figured out how to light them on fire. Okay, maybe the last part was just me. Maybe. Forcing down our joined anger slightly, I tried to figure out a way to beat them still. I noticed the leader had a really loose grip on m- our magnus. Okay, that works.

"Let's shut them up! Sagi, grab our magnus back!" I ordered, and he immediately did so, using it so he could stand up. He grabbed his sword again and got ready to fight. I noticed he was holding Scencion. The stupid group got their guns up. Right as Sagi was about to beat their asses into next week, however, I heard a very unwelcome voice. Okay, maybe he wouldn't have beat them into next week. Only a few hours ahead.

"What's going on out here? Get to your stations, now!" Great, -Talk is back! The captain had walked out of the strategy room, and was heading towards us. The three idiots turned around, saluted, then ran past us. The leader pushed past Sagi on purpose. Don't tell Sagi to strangle them. Murder is bad, remember? That thought brought the mission back into my head. I started walking over towards the lockers like the captain said, forced myself to stop, then turned around.

"Sagi, wasn't it?" The captain asked, walking forward. He nodded. "You've got guts, picking a fight so soon after joining up." For some reason, Sagi seemed to think he'd have to fight the captain, and tensed up. I sighed and hit him on the head. It doesn't hurt, but it does get his attention.

"He's not going to do anything, calm down." I said, shaking my head. Strangely, the captain started laughing.

"Now, now, no need to get defensive." Point proven. Sagi went back to normal. "We've got high hopes for you, spiriter." As much as that made me happy, I could tell the captain was going to keep talking. Let's hope this will be quick. "After all, legend has it that you and that guardian spirit holed up in your heart are going to sway the fate of the world." Yeah, I'm that awesome. I couldn't help smiling. Sure that captain talked a lot, but he was good at making a person feel important. "Anyway, you'd better hurry up and get ready. The lockers are down that way." He pointed down the stairs. "Get moving." As he walked back to the strategy room, I shook my head.

"Why does everyone tell us where to go? We're new, but we're not stupid!" I complained as we headed down.

"Well, he is the captain. That's his job." Sagi reasoned. Why does he have to be right? Can't I just ramble on for once?

"Well, yeah. But still." I wasn't going to give up on this. One soldier had told us where our room was, when we were right by it! It didn't make much sense to me. It was either that, or they had gotten some pretty dumb new guys here. I stayed quiet as we walked into the locker room. Once we entered, though, I couldn't help but groan.

"Sagi, can't we grab someone's paramachina? Guillo would never have to know." I offered, looking at the wonderfully silent machines. They did the job, never complained, and never made some odd animal reference. I envied all the Servicemen who had one.

What did we get? Why, a talking puppet thing that was sarcastic, of course. So much better. Oh and you can't forget the fact I could not relax around her. Then I looked over at our locker. Wait, she can see Sagi through that. So, my plan won't work. Oh well.

As Sagi headed over to his locker, choosing to ignore my advice, I sat on the huge wooden table that was in the middle of the room. Most of the lockers were empty, and the other Servicemen were nowhere in sight. Great, we're probably late, then. Right before he finished entering the code, Sagi looked back at me.

"Alright, Naren. Time for us to get ready, too." I just waved my hand at him, resigned to my fate. Goodbye, quiet. I'll miss you.

Once the code was confirmed, the clear glass covering the locker popped open. And out popped the most annoying thing in the universe, Guillo. Okay, that might be a tiny bit of bias on my part, since I still feel slightly on edge around her. She immediately started doing a few stretches, ending with a one-handed handstand.

Sagi half-laughed. "You looked a little cramped in there, Guillo."

"Cramped?" Guillo responded incredulously. I have to say, even after five years, the two voice thing still creeps me out a bit. "You know that sensation is lost on me." I felt my head starting to hurt already. I really don't want to deal with her this early... She jumped to her feet. "Is it finally time for action?" Oh yeah, she's been stuck in here the entire time. Now, I feel a bit bad for her... Oh well. She's not complaining.

Sagi looked around a bit before answering. He could have just asked me, but I guess it didn't really matter. "Yeah. But try to keep it down." He whispered. "Paramachina can't talk, remember?"

"Those lucky people." I muttered, knowing full well that Sagi could hear me. Guillo then stood at attention and didn't say anything. Thank the gods! We have a silent Guillo! For some odd reason, everyone but Sagi and Mom get on my nerves. I don't know why, but it's true. Guillo just goes a little farther than everyone else.

Sagi did laugh then. "There you go. That's more like it." Then he turned to me and took a deep breath. I slid off the table. "Well, here goes! Our first field mission. Are you ready, Naren?" I rolled my eyes. We've done field missions before this! Just not filthy Dark Service ones.

"You know it!" I replied, giving him a thumbs up sign. I hope my smile looked convincing. Never mind the fact that this mission is going to suck, thanks to the objective. Alright, I'm going to make the best of this. I prepared for this before we came, anyway.

"Glad to hear it. I know we've been over this, but you and I need to be as like-minded as we can. The more we get along, the better magnus we'll draw during combat." My interest was piqued at that. Really? I hadn't known that. Maybe I was half asleep or something. Man, I really need to pay more attention. He went on to explain what he meant, but saw me drumming my fingers on the table. No noise, but it got the point across. "Anyways, the choices you make determine how well we work together. I'm counting on you, Naren!"

"Leave it to me!" I had a sudden urge to do a back flip, but resisted it. Don't be a show-off like Guillo. You probably wouldn't make it, anyway. I had a mental image of me falling on my back, and winced. Yeah, I'm not going to try.

"Now that's what I like to hear! Come on, let's go." With that, Sagi turned to leave. Guillo walked after him, and I just waited for when I'd be launched. After about 10 seconds, I felt the tugging sensation and decided it wasn't worth it. Sliding off the table, I shook my head. Way too early to be launched, thank you very much.

After running to catch up, I decided to stay quiet. Sure, thinking aloud is helpful sometimes, but I do like keeping a few thoughts to myself. After giving it a few more seconds of thought, I decided to help Sagi the best that I could, no matter what we had to do here. Okay, so I should start planning then... Joy. This is even more fun then running through the Thornwoods.

On our way over to the exit, I noticed a group of two Servicemen and a paramachina. They had their guns out and were looking around. I had to resist the urge to groan. For the love of the gods, can't we get a break?! Please?

Apparently, the gods have no pity. Either that, or they're sadists. As soon as we walked in front of the group, one of them decided to yell.

"Hey, you're the twerp who just joined up, right?" The one closest to us called. I sighed and motioned for Sagi to get his magnus ready. These fights are happening WAY too often lately. I saw the other guy leaning toward Guillo, then he broke into a quick laugh.

"Wait, what it THAT?" He cried out, pointing at her. I could hear him chuckling still. While this was not the best time to laugh with him, I saved this memory in my mind. This will be interesting later. Maybe for when I could use a laugh. "Is that your paramachina?" He continued, but now he sounded a bit worried. Hey, is a Serviceman actually worried about us? The only one other then Valara, I'm in shock. Oh, that was her name! Ha, I remembered it! "It's ancient, kid!" The other guy started snickering, then walked behind his paramachina.

"Code S stands for Special Ops, not screw around." He shot at us, entering some sort of code into the machine. "Get a clue loser!" The other Serviceman looked nervous. Hm. Come on, he was in our initiation ceremony... David! I'll try and have Sagi go easy on him. Guillo seemed to catch the hint, and took her magnus out from wherever she kept them. Releasing the claw things that enhanced magic, she looked over at Sagi.

"Hm, this battle might be too much for you alone, provided their guns sting more than their wit." She noted calmly. I could see her getting a combo set up. Looking over her shoulder, I smirked. Okay, Sorcery Sophia augment, weak, medium, strong, Firewheel... Oh, that's gonna hurt. "I'll act on my own for the time being. You just worry about yourself." Sagi gave her a grateful grin. Hey, say that 10 times fast.

"Okay. Thanks Guillo!" He replied, keeping an eye on the paramachina. I sighed, but nodded. This isn't going to take long. A few seconds later, the machine jerked upright, and so did David. The one guy I did not know the name of gave a nod and raised his gun. Then, Guillo started attacking. Let me make a note here. I don't like Guillo that much. However, I happily admit she kicks ass. Before Sagi could even move, she equipped her augment and knocked the first guy out with her weak and medium attack. I grinned as his helmet hit the ground. One down.. Oh, there goes the machina. Without missing a beat, she had used the strong power up and her Firewheel special on the paramachina. It went down in a broken mass of flames. All of that was in the time it took Sagi to pull his wings out and draw a hand of magnus. Which, I noticed, was a perfect combo ending with Scencion. Before he attacked, I shook my head. Wow, that was cool.

"See if he wants to surrender." I advised, nodding towards David. Sagi gave me a quick look. I shrugged. "It didn't look like he wanted to fight, anyway." Sure enough, he had already laid his magnus gun on the floor and backed away. I looked past the smoldering remains of the machina, and saw the first guy was sitting up and shaking his head. He winced slightly, then glared at us. Serves him right. You don't try and attack Sagi.

"Wh-what's with that paramachina?" David stuttered, looking between us and the robot that used to be a good fighting machine. "I thought it was an old model!" I smiled a bit. Who knows what she is. Not even I do. The guy who started all of this spat on the ground next to him. I saw a few spots of blood. Okay, Guillo might want to tone it down a bit. We get in serious trouble if they're sent to the hospital.

"Meh, forget it. Let's just go." He tried getting up, but fell on his knees. As David ran over, holding a potion magnus, he glanced at Sagi.

"Take a magnus or two from my deck, okay?" Sagi blinked. I understood. This was the closest someone was to being nice to us, except if you count Valara stopping us from having to fight someone. Which had happened a lot since we joined up a week ago.

"Why?" He asked, still blinking. Guillo remained quiet. A very good thing. If the Service found out she wasn't a paramachina, we'd be kicked out. If we didn't die from this mission. Okay, stop thinking about it already! David shrugged.

"You beat us. We have to pay you. Plain and simple. Oh, and take the 50 gold by it, too." Turning back to the guy on the ground, he didn't say anything else. I smiled, walking over towards the magnus. Decent guy. Hope he lasts more than two weeks.

"Hey, Sagi!" I called, waving him over. "There's another low potion in here. And a punk knife!" Now that I concentrated, I could see transparent copies of every magnus floating over the deck. There was only about 15 of them. Hey, that's kind of like me, almost totally see-through, but not quite... Ignoring the thought, I waved Sagi over. Still looking puzzled, he stood next to me.

"How do you know that?" He whispered. I scratched my head. Another nervous habit. "You haven't done that before." Huh, I guess he's right. How did I do that?

"I... don't really know." I responded eventually. It was the truth. "I just concentrated on the deck." I paused again, since Sagi was grabbing the magnus and gold off the ground. Once he stood up, I smiled. "In fact, I can see your travel log floating around your head right now." I noticed the Serviceman, who was still kneeling on the ground, was glaring at Sagi and Guillo.

"Damn it, what the hell do you want?" He growled at them. It seemed like he was trying to intimidate us or something. All he managed was giving me a reason to chuckle. Guillo seemed to share my thoughts.

"It's true. The weakest do curse the loudest." She said quietly, and I could hear a hint of a laugh in her voice- er, voices. Sagi looked at both of us and sighed.

"Let's just leave them alone. Come on, let's go." He shook his head, and walked toward the safety flower. Guillo followed silently, and I laughed a bit more, then ran over. It turns out that he just wanted to write a bit. After having me look it over, and this entry had a only a few misspellings, he returned it to the magnus form. Looking at the copy, I had an urge to poke it. Surprisingly, it actually moved when I touched it. Did... Did that just happen?! Oh, hell yeah! I was understandably happy. I hadn't been able to affect anything my whole life, unless you count Sagi doing what I told him to. I wonder if I can write in it...

As I was mentally throwing a party, which included all of Gena's sweets, Sagi was walking over to a Serviceman who was staring at an unlit torch. Once I actually noticed, it seemed odd.

"Sagi, what are you doing?" I asked, still slightly out of it. He stopped, then looked back at me. I was sitting in the middle of the safety flower, holding the travel log and it's accompanying pen. While the cover had previously said "property of Sagi", it now read "Property of Sagi and Naren, who can spell properly!" Okay, I like to brag. Big deal, right? Shaking his head slightly, he looked over at the Serviceman.

"He looks worried." He responded, looking back at where I was sitting. I gave him a slight frown. I think I know where this is going. "I want to see if we can help him." I slapped a hand to my forehead. First helping Doc out and doing errands for Sis when he was a kid, and now this. Why?

"Do we have to? We're going to be late!"I reminded him, looking at the clock above the strategy room. It said that it was 2: 45. Wow, it is early. He just smiled and walked back over. "Fine. But anything that happens is your fault!" I sighed, looking down to the log. Should I put my battle tips in here? ...Yeah, he usually forgets most of them...

"Um, excuse me?" I looked up. Sagi was standing over by the Serviceman. "Is something wrong?" The guy turned around, and then gave Sagi a huge grin. That made me feel a bit worried.

"Hey, new guy!" He replied at once. "You came at the perfect time!" Sagi gave me a quick look.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." He muttered. I just smiled. Maybe you should have listened.

"Now you think that?" I replied, looking back at the log. Okay, so I should put magnus help down first... The serviceman seemed to ignore what Sagi said, and looked back at the torch.

"See, too many men took the magna essence of the torches when getting ready. Now," he waved an arm at the torch by him, "they've all gone out. So, the captain came by and told me to relight them all with some fire." I think I know where this is going... From the look on Sagi's face, I think he did, too. "The thing is, all of my blank magnus are filled with water." I saw Guillo get her Firewheel magnus out. Hey, I thought a torch would be just fine. But.. that would be pretty fun to see, too. I saw Sagi shake his head slightly, and she put it away. Aw man... "So, standard operation says it's your responsibility to take over." What?! But it was your job!

"Standard..." Sagi seemed to think it wasn't true. I agreed with him. "Wait, why me?" The guy just waved a hand at him.

"Oh, simmer down. New guys always get these kinds of jobs." I just snorted. Right. I bet you just don't want to do anything. Sagi, while not being as obviously rude as me, still had a look on his face that clearly said he wasn't buying it. The guy sighed, then looked around. "Look, I'll give you something nice when you're done, okay?" Okay, that's better! I wonder if it's a magnus? I could feel myself getting excited. Even if I had no idea what the reward was, it would probably help us out. Sagi felt it too, since he looked at me, then sighed.

"Eh... What do you think, Naren?" From the way he said it, I guessed he already knew my answer. I let go of the log and stood up. Might as well make sure.

"Let's do it!" I replied. I felt my obsession with magnus start to come forward, but beat it back. You don't even know if it is a magnus yet! Sagi sighed again, then looked at the Serviceman.

"Ok, fine. I'll do it." He told him, rubbing his forehead. I guess he just wants to get to the residence... Oh yeah, plan! I'm in charge, so I need to think this through.

"Hey, hey! Atta boy!" The guy all but shouted. "What a decent guy!" I thought this was supposed to be standard. I looked over at Guillo. She had put her claw hand to her forehead, or the general area where one would be, and was shaking her head. Luckily, no one was paying attention to her. "If you face the torches and use a flame magna essence, that should do the trick." Back to the plan... Wait, I don't even know how this is going to work! Now I wish the captain had talked more. Wait, what? I looked over at the Serviceman. He was telling us where we could find fire. I'm not even joking, do they all think we're stupid? More evidence. I think I might be able to give a good argument if I have to. Not that anyone would really hear it.


ARGH! I can't write! Most of this chapter was forced, so it wasn't my best work. As the title says, I believe the area is mostly filler. And the Dark Service headquarters is just kind of boring to write. I know I probably could have done better, but... Sorry. *slaps self* Darn it! And this probably wasn't worth the wait. I, heh... Kind of thought I uploaded it already. Silly me!

Okay, anyone who believes they have to flame, it will be used to fuel a True Crimson Sky tooth. Other than that, feel free to review and HELP ME!!! Please?

Oh, and a Sagi plushie to anyone who can tell me where the title came from!