"...wow. Asgard is BIG."
I looked sideways at Lloyd and shook my head. One of these days, I was just going to have to show the kid New York City. And then we'd see what could be classified as 'big'.
Despite that fact, Asgard was a fairly impressive city. Tucked away within a canyon on one side of the abyss, it sported many old weathered stone formations and arches, some of which I knew from memory held extremely old ruins. Cave paintings, if I recalled correctly, which I figured Raine might drag us to see sooner or later... I decided to spare us the headaches and make it sooner.
"Hey Raine! Aren't there really old murals in this place? Let's go see them!"
I was met with evil glares from the guys, a blank look from Colette, and the Professor looked like she'd snorted sugar.
"MURALS!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, startling several passersby. "LET'S GO!"
Five minutes later...
"FANTASTIC!" Raine squealed with supersonic force, causing dogs outside to whimper and several birds to drop dead right out of the sky. "These are perfectly well-preserved paintings over 4000 years old, depicting the activities of King Cleo III and the Summon Spirit of Wind from the Ancient War! Fascinating..."
While Raine went off on her own little tangent about the awesomeness of King Cleo and the information revealed in the cave paintings, Colette sat by and listened, unaware of Genis and Lloyd pounding away on me.
"What were you thinking!" Lloyd hissed at me. "Don't you know how much the Professor craves old things!"
"Yeah! Now we're going to be stuck in here all day listening to her rant!" Genis chimed in, smacking my side lightly with his kendama. Thankfully, he hadn't yet upgraded to a Duel Star, but the little rubber ball still hurt against my ribs, which were still recovering from my run-in with Iubaris.
"Ow! Genis! Yes, I know about her obsession...it was all a part of my plan." I said, rubbing my side and slowly edging away from Lloyd and Genis towards the exit. Instantly, they stopped hunting me and looked confused.
"Plan?" Lloyd cocked his head to the side, confused. "What plan?"
"She's very smart, Lloyd." Kratos spoke from the entrance, silhouetted against the outside sunlight. "Quickly, before Ms. Sage notices we're gone!" Genis gasped, nodding with sudden understanding, but Lloyd apparently was still confused. Amidst his sputtering, I grabbed hold of the white ribbons on the back of his shirt and dragged him out the door.
The minute we were outside Lloyd yanked his ribbons free of my grasp, and I promptly fell down, laughing so hard I nearly cried. The three guys stared down at me rolling around in the dirt, and then pretended they didn't know me.
"What's your problem?" Lloyd asked a minute later, when most of my laughter had ceased and I was panting for breath. Standing and dusting myself off, I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.
"Sorry Lloyd, but...I've always wanted to do that!" I giggled, watching him get all confused again.
"Do what?"
"Pull you around by those ribbon things on the back of your neck! Every time I played the game I kept imagining someone randomly grabbing you and yanking you around...and I got to do it!" I laughed again. "That'll be something to tell my grandkids..."
"Indeed," Kratos smiled, a small smirk as he leaned against a natural rock wall. "And now, perhaps we should restock our supplies? I understand there's a weapons shop around here having a sale..."
Lloyd and Genis were gone before he even got finished with the word "weapons".
"So..." I mused, watching their retreating backs, "What should we do...?" Kratos sighed, and checked his money bag before shoving off the wall and walking towards a staircase.
"We should probably get you some better clothes," he said, motioning with a lazy wave of the hand. "Come on..." I blinked once, and then trotted after him.
30 minutes later...
It didn't take too long for us to find some new clothing for me. We sold off the old stuff (the lady who got it was especially fascinated by my jacket) in return for new stuff, and I stepped out of a changing room decently attired for a look in a mirror. Truth be told, it wasn't much of a change- I'd gone from blue jeans to just plain blue pants, plus a belt, a white shirt with three-quarter sleeves and a semi-deep neckline, and a brown vest which fastened at my neck and had a sort of diamond pattern at the top like Colette's tunic. Like I said, not much of a change. The only thing that remained original were my sneakers...but I had a sneaking suspicion that they would be the next things to go.
Inspecting my outward appearance, I pulled my hair back into its usual ponytail and nodded to Kratos, who was sitting on a bench nearby. "This is fine. Let's go."
"That'll be 400 gald." The saleswoman said pleasantly. She got her money from Kratos, and then we left.
"Well, now what do we do...?" I mused, taking the sheath for my Hydra Dagger and buckling it onto my belt. "It must nearly be time for us to head back to Raine and Colette..."
"Hey guys!" Lloyd came running up, with Genis panting behind him. "I take it you had luck shopping?"
"What do you think?" I grinned. "Get anything new?"
"A few gels and life bottles, and Genis got- OW!"
Genis had whacked him with his newly-acquired Duel Star. "Lloyd! I wanted to tell them!"
"You can still tell the Chosen and Professor Sage when we get back." Kratos said, being overly practical and a mood killer as always. "Now, shall we go?"
We got back to the ruin cave in time to hear Colette say "That's all a bit confusing, Professor. Could you explain it again, a bit slower?"
"I'd be happy to, Colette. Now, King Cleo III-"
Tuning out Raine, I chuckled and turned to the others as we all bunched around the door opening. "Well, looks like we've got some more time...now what?"
There were several moments of silence as we thought of all the possible activities that could be done in a city of ancient ruins. That didn't make for a very long list...
"...well, I suppose we could teach you some magic..." Kratos muttered finally, for lack of anything better to say. I snapped to attention at this, staring at him with something similar to crazy-fangirl mode or Raine's ruin-obsession mode.
"Really!" Oops, I squealed. Shouldn't have done that.
"Yes, really." Kratos growled, wincing under the sonic onslaught. "Now we just have to find someplace quiet to practice..."
That lead to more meditative thought.
"Say...how about that old ruin thingy up those steps? Remember Genis, that nice old man told us about it?" Lloyd suggested, poking his friend in the head. Genis scowled and pushed his hand away.
"Yes I remember! Stop poking me." He growled, pulling out his Duel Star. Lloyd winced and shrank back into hiding behind Kratos, who rolled his eyes.
"Very well, the 'ruin thingy' it is. Lead on." Kratos directed, and Lloyd took off with Genis right behind, chasing him with his kendama. Strangely enough, Kratos and I sighed at more-or-less the same time before following the hyper swordsman in red and the little shrimp in blue.
----------
It was very windy up on the stone platform where Lloyd and Genis led us. The wind ruffled our hair and threw it in our faces, making it nigh impossible for me to see. If not for my ponytail, I probably would have been reduced to a hairy blonde blob.
"Alright," Kratos spoke up against the wind, his messy auburn hair flung out of his eyes for once. He actually looked even hotter than usual that way, and I was desperately trying not to blush. The stray strands of hair in my face helped to hide that fact, but even so the two troublemakers were still pointing and snickering. "Do you know any magic spells whatsoever?"
"Nope." I replied bluntly, "Unless you count the one angel spell I memorized from the game." Kratos nearly fell over in shock. I couldn't blame him.
"You know an angel spell? Which one?" Kratos asked, quickly recovering from his shock. I shrugged.
"I can't remember it now... If I recall it later, I'll be sure to tell you."
"Why, Kratos? Need a little heavenly guidance?" Lloyd ribbed, and Kratos cuffed him upside the head, glowering. I giggled along with Genis, until the mercenary turned his withering looks on us and we shut up.
"...continuing the magic lesson." Kratos sighed. "Do you know any defensive spells?"
"...nope." Well, I know how to say 'Guardian', but I don't think that counts for a spell...
"Right. We'll start with that, then." Kratos drew his sword and motioned to me. "Come at me. Don't hold back."
"No problems there." I grumbled, drawing the Hydra Dagger and rushing at Kratos.
----------
When Raine and Colette came trudging up the long set of stairs an hour later, they found Kratos and Lloyd both jumping me in attempts to work on the strength of my Guardian spell. However, by that time I was so physically exhausted it was almost impossible to focus the mana and form it into a barrier. Add that to the fact that Genis was casting basic things like Stone Blast on me, and I was nearly wiped out.
"What the HELL do you think you're doing!" Raine snarled, barging in with her staff held high. She whacked both Lloyd and Kratos over the noggin, then grabbed Genis and slapped him in the butt. "First you walk out on my lectures, and then you start beating up innocents! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Tossing Genis down on the ground, she then turned to me, and her voice got a lot softer. "Are you alright? You look like you need to have your magic replenished..." Digging into her pack, she brought out a slimy orange blob, and I winced. Oh no, an orange gel! That's even worse than an apple gel...
"No...I'm fine Raine, really..."
"Professor! What'd you have to do that for!" Lloyd yelled, rubbing the gigantic bump forming on his head. "We were only trying to teach her some magic!" Without looking, Raine accurately nailed him in the same spot again with her staff.
"Well, it doesn't take three people whaling on a beginner -no offense, dear- to teach them magic! Whose idea was this?" Lloyd, Genis, and I all pointed at Kratos, who met the accusations with steely glares.
"Don't even think about blaming this on me." He said sharply. "Lloyd, you were the one who just randomly started attacking her and told Genis to cast spells."
"And you're the one who didn't stop us because you thought it would help build up her resistance!"
...oh, Summon Spirits. This was going nowhere fast.
"Guys, guys...and girls," I added quickly, looking to Colette and Raine. "I'm fine, really. Raine, they were only trying to teach me a defensive spell, that's not really an act worth getting your skull bashed in for..."
"Hear, hear!" Genis cheered, rubbing his aching butt. "Nobody can do a good deed around Raine anymore without getting killed!" He squeaked when Raine turned her patented 'Evil Older Sister Death Glare' on him, and ducked behind Lloyd.
"Anyway, I think I've got the theory down," I said, turning to Kratos, "So the rest should just come naturally, eh?" He nodded.
"That's the general idea, the rest will come with practice..."
sigh "No rest for the weary, then..."
"Um..guys?" We turned to see Lloyd and Genis slowly edge away from Raine, who was hunched over and seemed to be muttering something under her breath. Her eyes were wide and fanatical...this could not be good.
"Head for the hills! She's lost it!" I yelled at roughly the same moment Raine's eyes popped with sudden understanding and she let out a shriek louder than any harpy. (And wouldn't you know it, several more dogs and birds dropped dead from the noise. And some old deaf people, too.)
"WE'RE STANDING ON A FABULOUS RUIN! OH MY GODDESS! I SIMPLY MUST STUDY IT RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"
...I meant it when I said head for the hills. Raine gathered up her staff and whacked all of us off the stupid ruin like we were golf balls. Soaring through the air, I caught sight of Raine's crazed expression before I hit the dirt, flat on my face. "Ow..."
Spitting out grass blades and gravel, I looked around at the others, most of which were bearing expressions of surprise on their faces. Colette, klutz that she was, had landed on top of Lloyd, so both were blushing immensely. Genis had somehow managed to land on his kendama, so now his rear was twice as sore, while Kratos had apparently used his mad angel skillz to land on his feet and was giving us a look that clearly said "I've sparred with you all for one hour and you can't even land on your feet! Pathetic!"
Looking up, I gulped as a shadow fell over us and Raine appeared on the edge of the stone dais, looking maniacal. "Now this time," she grinned evilly, "You can't run away from my lecture! Mwahahahaha!" I'm going to swear that my blood froze in my veins, and that even my Demon's Heart stopped beating. "Now then, this dais was built by King Cleo III in honor of the Summon Spirit of Wind..." It was remarkably easy to tune Raine out.
While she stood there with her eyes closed and arms crossed, lecturing her brains out (if such a thing was possible) I slunk away around the corner of the giant stone dais, and was tripped by Lloyd.
"Waugh!" Oopmh. Damn, how'd I end up eating dirt for the second time today?
"Where'ya going?" Lloyd asked, curiously. I got up and dusted myself off before looking cautiously over at Raine, to make sure she was still in Lecture Land.
"Well, when we were fighting, I thought I saw a stone thing on the back of this ruin that looked like an oracle stone..." Complete and total lies. But, in order to advance the plot and move it along, it was necessary to get the doofus around the back of the giant square rock. "So I thought I should check it out."
"Cool. Let's go!" ...wow. He really was dumb enough to believe that stupid lie. I now had new respect for Lloyd's lack of intelligence. Well, now that that was sorted out the two of us slunk around the corner of the rock, Indian-style, and headed off towards the back.
As we reached another corner and prepared to round it, sudden voices on that side prompted us to stop and hide (as best as two children wearing flashy clothing on a bleak landscape next to a horribly plain stone dais can hide) as we eavesdropped on the person or persons kitty-corner us.
"-Harley, you can't just blow it up!" came one voice, clearly panicked.
"Why not? If we don't, Aisha will be sacrificed to that spirit! And with this new bomb, the unstoppable 'Breaker', that won't happen!"
"Blow up the ruin?" Lloyd sprung up from his spot and dashed around the corner before I could grab the white ribbons from his neck to yank him back. Cursing silently but allowing the plot to advance, I followed after him, skidding to a halt at the sight of a half-elf and human next to a brown boxy thing. It hardly looked like a bomb, but for the switch and number slots on the front. "Why would you want to blow up the ruin?"
"BLOW UP THE RUIN!" came an all too-familiar yell from the other side of the dais, and then Raine came running up. Lloyd and I watched, amazed, as she sidekicked one Offender of Humanity, and then dropkicked the other. I felt my jaw freely drop. "BLASPHEMY! THIS IS A WONDERFULLY PRESERVED PIECE OF HISTORY!" Raine ranted on, gesturing wildly with her hands. We could only watch in horror as she hit the detonation switch by accident. "Now, hear its history. This ruin was built in-"
Like a good little student, I raised my hand. "Professor?"
"Yes dear?"
"You set the bomb off."
Stunned stares all around, anyone?
Raine looked like she'd just swallowed arsenic. "...oh my. Is there any way to disarm it?" she asked the halfy and human, rather threateningly. The boy shook his head, and the halfy, Harley, laughed evilly.
"Of course not! There is no way to stop my unstoppable Breaker!" Raine dropkicked him again.
"Don't build things you can't control!"
We sane people near the corner just sweatdropped.
"Well...guess I'll just have to disarm it..." Lloyd muttered, crouching down near the bomb-box thing and going to work.
Three minutes later...
"There we go. All done." Lloyd grinned, wiping some sweat from his brow. Raine almost hugged him for saving her precious ruin. Meanwhile, the culprits were in the process of running away, so I pulled a Professor and booted them both in the ass. For once, someone besides me was eating dirt today.
"Hold up, defacers-of-history." I grinned in spite of myself. I am truly evil at heart. "Care to give us a little explanation on why you wanted to blow this thing up?" Tell us all about the oh-so-freaky Windmaster demon so we can kill him!
"Alright. It's only fair- Harley!"
Harley was long gone, taking off faster than I would have thought for someone who'd been dropkicked twice and then kicked into the dirt.
"Ack. I...apologize for him." his companion sighed. "Perhaps we should go back to my house, he's probably hiding there..."
"Sounds good." Raine acknowledged, keeping a wary eye on the boy as we escorted him around to the other side of the dais, where the others were waiting with various degrees of interest.
"What happened?" Colette asked, worried. "We heard a lot of yelling, and then some fighting..." I laughed, Lloyd sweatdropped, and our captive cringed.
"Oh, nothing we couldn't handle," I grinned sadistically. "Just some local vandals trying to blow up the ruin, and Raine ended up kicking their butts."
"Speaking of local vandals, I believe this young fellow has something he wishes to tell us. Shall we proceed to his house?" Raine asked, somehow managing to turn it into more of a statement as she swept past us with her prize in tow. Falling into step in the back of the line, I couldn't help but mutter under my breath.
"Yes, tell us about the Windmaster and the stupid ritual..."
"Hm?" Kratos paused and looked back at me, I gulped. Damn, I'd forgotten about his freakishly keen angelic hearing again! How many more times would I forget about it and let something vital slip? "Did you say something?"
Shit...
"No, I was just talking to myself..." I fiddled nervously with my dagger sheath as I walked, coming past Kratos and down the steps. "Thinking about what's going to happen.."
"Ah..." Kratos fell in beside me, and didn't say anything else until we reached out destination.
----------
"So basically, there's an evil spirit living in the giant rock that eats pretty girls." I summed up our entire conversation over the past thirty minutes in less than twenty words. In return, I got stares, both confused and knowing. The knowing look came from Kratos (damn, the bastard had heard!), of course. Leaning back against a post, I sweatdropped. "What?"
"That...was a very good summary," Raine said, clearly pleased. "Now, what should we do about this spirit?"
"Well, if it is a seal, we should go meet it," Colette said, looking about. The others in our group nodded assent.
"But, only I'm allowed up there to do the ceremony." Aisha bit her lip. A pretty young girl, she was the one chosen to do the traditional dance for the "Summon Spirit of Wind" which had Harley and his friend from the dais, Linar, so worried. Surprisingly, she wasn't too disturbed about the fact that she could potentially die from dancing for the spirit...wow. If that was me I would've fled Asgard screaming my head off.
"What if Raine takes Aisha's place?" There was a stunned silence as we all just stared at Lloyd, amazed.
"...incredible. Lloyd just had a good idea!" Genis exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. "What's next, is it going to rain gald from the sky?"
"I think yer outta luck there, Shorty." I said, patting Genis on the top of the head. He growled, and swatted my hand away.
"Don't do that! I'm not somebody's pet!"
"Sor-ry. Sheesh..."
"Alright, enough." Raine sighed, flapping her hand at the two of us. "I'm going to go and get permission from whoever's in charge of this thing, who wants to come with me?" Lloyd, Genis, and Colette volunteered, whilst I politely declined.
"Sorry Raine. I'm still kinda bushed from my trouncing-" A frosty glare from Kratos. "-Oh sorry, training- earlier. Anybody mind if I rest a bit?"
"That's fine. We'll need you in shape to fight if it is a seal. Rest up, all right?" Raine nodded and left with Lloyd and Colette in tow. Passing by Aisha's offers to use her bed, I went up to the roof and slumped down against the outside wall of the second floor, just enjoying the sun's warmth. From up here, I could see orange, red, blue, and white blobs walking along the path back up to the great stone dais, and sighed.
Well, there they go...that should be interesting.
"Hmph...this is quite the detour..." I nearly fell right off the roof in shock as Kratos appeared right next to me.
"Ack! Kratos! What the heck- have you been teleporting again?"
"What do you mean, again?" he asked, utterly calm. "I don't teleport." Grasping my chest and frantically thudding Demon's Heart, I slowly managed to calm both down.
"Ah, right, sorry...I'm getting myself mixed up again." Sighing deeply, I felt a soft breeze ruffle my hair. Then a thought struck me. "Kratos, you know where all the seals are, don't you?"
His answer was a long time coming. "...yes." Kratos said finally, his face still expressionless. I shook my head.
"This sucks. My second major battle in less than a week, and I'm still not healed from the first one. I wonder if I can sit it out..."
"Of course not." The Seraphim replied. "Challenging yourself will help build your skills and make you stronger."
We were both silent for a while after that as I brooded.
"Are you sure that it's not because you want me to get killed in battle and save yourself the trouble?" I muttered after a bit. Kratos chuckled quietly, a smirk etched on his features. Smarmy Seraphim.
"No, of course not." He smirked. "After all, I need someone with some knowledge of the general scheme of things to keep them on track..." I shook my head, trying to throw him off.
"What are you talking about? Colette's going to save the world and go to heaven." I lied, rather easily. After having a thing like that drilled into you twice, I suppose it's the sort of information that's easy to dish back out. Kratos' smirk instantly vanished, and he stared down at me with a cold and relentless gaze.
"Seriously, though. How much do you know about the Regeneration journey in detail?"
I gulped, shrinking back against the brick. It would take a more than a few minutes for everything to come clean...
----------
Later that day, the group in general plus Aisha, Harley, and Linar stood in front of the stone dais to watch Raine perform the sacred dance for the "Summon Spirit of Wind." The tension in the air was so thick, I could have cut a donut hole out of it for a snack, and it wasn't just from waiting to see what would happen to Raine. After the scene on the roof an hour or so ago, Kratos had been rather quiet and contemplative, as well as watching me intensely. I didn't need to look to know that, I could feel his eyes boring holes in the back of my spine. It wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world. Apparently, he was now judging whether or not I would be more of a help or a hindrance in his little quest. Silently, I prayed to Martel that it was 'help.'
Oh look, the ritual was starting...
Slowly and gracefully, Raine paced around the dais, stopping at certain intervals to depress stone buttons into the ruin with the point of her staff. While the others watched with growing anticipation, I sighed, checked to see that my supply of gels was up to par, and then pulled out my Hydra Dagger. Any minute now, Windmaster was going to pop up and give us all a show- something Kratos would not let me get out of, that would be certain.
"...and that's all I know about the journey."
I finished with a heavy sigh, absently playing with the end of my ponytail. I'd told Kratos what I knew up to the Tower of Salvation, but not after that. I hadn't told him about the resisting of Remiel, or the Renegades either. That was stuff in the future that I theoretically wasn't supposed to know, and I didn't think he needed to know right now. Especially since I was here now...I had a sneaking suspicion that things in the game were going to change, majorly. For even me, the future was now obscure and uncertain.
"I see. I don't know how happy Lord Yggdrasill will be with us murdering all of his Grand Cardinals, but..." He shrugged, and I'm going to swear I saw a gleam of morbid amusement flash though Kratos' red eyes. Probably the thought of finally getting Kvar back for Anna's sake. "If it needs to be done in order to complete the journey, so be it."
"It's probably best that way." I said, noting Lloyd and the others returning down the path. "After all, I think the others would start getting suspicious if you objected to killing the Desians..."
"Indeed..."
A sharp gust of wind brought me back to the present out of my reverie. Even without Genis' strange ability to sense mana, I could tell he was here: the demon, Windmaster. The wind was condensing into a column in front of Raine, and starting to take shape. A few seconds later, the wind had formed into a lilac-colored creature with a slightly dragonish head, long claws, twin fins on its back to serve as wings, and a giant blade in place of legs. Hovering inside its own personal wind tunnel, the demon glared down at us.
/Ah, my sacrifice. Now I shall feast/
Raine stood before him, utterly unafraid. Down on the ground, Lloyd was already drawing his swords. "Professor!"
"Let's go, Lloyd!" I yelled, leaping past up onto the platform with dagger drawn. "Trust me, this guy is not Sylph!"
"Right. We're coming!" Lloyd called back, rushing up with Genis, Colette, and Kratos in tow. The Windmaster roared, and shot a gust of air right at the middle of the group. It knocked Raine back to the edge of the field, and sent Lloyd flying into Kratos in midleap. I crouched, trying my best to brace against the wind, and managed to avoid flying back a few feet. However, that left me horribly open to attacks, which resulted in a headache as the demon smacked me with one clawed hand and sent me skidding along the ground, back towards Raine.
"Ah...shit..." I hissed, sitting up painfully. The outside of my left arm was covered in shallow scrapes from where I'd been sliding along the stone, and the right side of my head had a small gash from Windmaster's claws. Somehow, I'd managed to keep a hold of my Hydra Dagger and not stab myself with it during my short flight across the dais. Thank Martel for that.
"Are you alright? Let me heal you-" I shook my head no at Raine.
"Save your energy and focus on them," I pointed at the others beating on the stupid demon. "And try to heal yourself first. If you go, we go, and that's not going to be pretty." Raine nodded, and set to charging up a healing spell for the others. I dug into my pack for an apple gel, choked it down, and sighed as the wounds scabbed over and blood stopped dripping into my eye. Thus revived, I charged back into the battle to get the bastard back for what he'd done.
Theses clothes are brand new, and they already look like they've been through an avalanche, dammit!
"Guys! Try and cage him in!" I yelled out, ducking under the giant blade-leg thing swung my way, and striking out at Windmaster. He howled as my dagger carved a line in his arm, and then I found myself narrowly ducking another blade swipe. "That way he won't be able to cast any spells!"
"Since when did you get so smart?" Genis asked, smacking our adversary in the eye. I slid around behind the purple demon and ripped my dagger through one of his wing membranes.
"Since I've killed this guy twice already!"
"How the hell did you do that?" Lloyd hollered, blocking swipes from the Windmaster before Tempesting himself over the creature, twin blades cutting deep gashes in both his shoulders. Blackish-purple blood spurted out at us, coating the surrounding stone. I got a load of it all over my pant leg, and grimaced in disgust, looking down at the sight. During that time was when I noticed that the bloodstained stone was smoking slightly. Shit! Acid blood!
"Never mind that! Stay away from the blood, its acidic!" Sharp pain bit into my leg as the acid-soaked fabric came into contact with my skin. Judging from appearances, the blood wasn't bad enough to melt stuff, but damn could it sting!
"First Aid!"
Healing green light bathed the affected area of my leg, and I sighed in relief, looking around for my benefactor. I was just in time to see Kratos get out of spellcasting mode and whack the Windmaster with a Double Demon Fang. "Thanks!" I yelled over at him, and then shot forward at the demon's exposed lower torso, Hydra Dagger perfectly aligned. "Sonic Thrus-"
Note to self: Never yell attacks that loudly. Your opponent will hear them.
Windmaster spun around, an evil light in his little eyes. Suddenly, he cartwheeled towards me. There's no other way to describe it, the stupid demon flipped head over blade and brought the giant sharp thing down right at my head. Positioned as I was, I really couldn't block it.
AHHH! FUCK!
"POW BLADE!" Holy crap, it was Lloyd to the rescue with...toy hammers? If the situation hadn't been so dire I probably would have burst out laughing. As it was, I still had to let a weak chuckle escape as Lloyd slammed Windmaster upside the head with the hammers, and then brought the attack to a close with a long slash clear down his middle, starting from the exposed throat all the way down to the bladed torso.
Then it hit me. Wow, Lloyd and Colette gutted that thing like a fish! Never make them mad...
Howling with pain and curses, the Windmaster tried to close up its gaping insides, failed miserably, and disintegrated into the stone dais, dead. Left behind on the bloodstained ground was a talisman and a stone tablet. The tablet, I knew without looking, was a map to the Balacruf Mausoleum, the true location of the Wind Seal. And the talisman...eh. Piece of junk. I still picked it up and tucked it inside my vest anyway.
"Are you okay?" Colette hovered over to me and willed her wings in. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" I looked myself over, and then laughed. At least this outcome was less painful then when I fought Iubaris...
"Hmm. Well, considering the fact that he threw me across the altar, drenched me in his acid blood and tried to slice me into salami, I seem to be okay." I observed. In fact, the cuts on my arm from earlier were gone, nothing more than faint scars, and my head wound seemed to be completely gone. However, my leg still seemed to be a bit sore...and stiff. That acid stuff sure was tenacious... "Still, I probably would have died again had you and Lloyd not appeared to save my butt again, Colette." She giggled.
"Glad I could help!"
"Either I have nine lives or a guardian angel." I grinned, dusting my pants off. "Colette, I'm going to take you everywhere with me now. Or else I'm going to die otherwise!" We laughed together, oblivious to the people yelling at us and cursing us for killing their "Summon Spirit of Wind."
Apparently the townspeople were too dumb to note that that thing had been an imprisoned demon…
----------
Later that evening, we relaxed at the Windmill Inn. Raine had gone off with Linar to decipher the tablet (which was a total waste of time, seeing as I knew where the seal was). I'd briefly considered telling Raine that I knew what the tablet meant, but the kinder side of me won over. Why deny the Professor a chance to study one of her precious ruins? I'm not that cruel.
Sighing, I stretched out on one of the four beds in the room. My bed was in an upper loft, along with Colette's. Lloyd and Genis had the bottom beds, and Kratos was supposed to have the floor...seeing as he didn't sleep, that was rather pointless. Raine was sleeping over at Linar and Aisha's house for tonight.
Closing my eyes, I heard light footsteps and the creak of leather. I didn't bother to open my eyes, I knew precisely who it was. "If you've come to rub the facts in my face, go away." I muttered, trying to get comfy on the layers of somewhat scratchy sheets and semilumpy pillows provided by the inn. I got a tired, 'I-don't-have-time-to-deal-with-sarcastic-teenagers' sigh in return.
"I am not here to 'rub facts in your face', as you put it. Why did you not tell Professor Sage the location of the seal?"
"And deny her a chance to study that tablet? I'm not that cruel, Kratos. And I'm not going to spill the location of every seal just to speed up this little journey." Cracking an eye open, I observed the Seraph brooding against a far wall near the stairs, arms crossed and scowling as always. That was Kratos, cute even when he's mad.
"Hmph. Do you not want to go home?" That question took me a little off guard, and it took a moment for the words to sink in.
"Why would I want to go home?" Now it was Kratos' turn to look surprised.
"Don't you miss your family?"
"Nope." Sighing, I sat up and yanked out my ponytail, running my fingers through my hair a few times before putting it back in it's former arrangement. "Look, I know that you of all people appreciate what it's like to have family the most, and I understand that. But, I don't like my parents or my brother. Hell, being here is like a dream come true for me and I'm going to drag it out as long as I want to." I paused for a breath, and to let Kratos absorb all that information.
"...what makes this place so much better than your home?" He asked finally, a hint of confusion creeping into his voice. "What is so appealing?"
"Well..." I paused a moment to think about it and tally up my reasons. No parents nagging me to get off the computer and get outdoors or make friends, no idiot little brother scorning all my hobbies and calling them a waste of life. Nobody making fun of me or playing pranks on me. Staying here was like starting my life all over again. "...let's just say that it's a very long list, Kratos."
The door below slammed suddenly, and Lloyd walked in with Colette and Genis. "Hey guys," he called cheerfully, "What's up?"
"Oh, not too much," I replied dryly. "Just discussing stuff with Kratty..."
Wow, I'm going to call him that every morning. The embarrassed blush/frosty death glare combo is priceless. I shoved down a growing urge to severely glomp Kratos...
"..yes. I was just remarking on how her skills with the blade have improved..." Kratos slowly regained his normal emotionless mercenary self. "I told you that fighting that demon would do you good."
DAMN IT KRATOS! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT!
"Wait a minute...you knew that demon was up there!" Genis yelled up at Kratos, practically spitting. From my overhead view, he kinda looked like a little white cat. Mwahaha...
"Erm, no. That would have been me who told him." I admitted, sticking my head over the banister for a better view. "Guilty as charged..." If Genis' kendama had a range of fifteen feet, I had no doubts that I'd be eating spiky paddle ball right now. Eep.
"Why didn't you warn us, then?" Genis called back, straining forward as Lloyd put a hand on his shoulder to hold him back. Sheesh, why was the little guy getting so worked up?
"It's called plot elements. I'll tell you stuff, never fear, but it's on a need-to-know basis." I replied, silently wondering to myself how the hell I was going to get out of this one. "Like where the spike traps are in the Balacruf Mausoleum."
Ah, shit. Open mouth, insert foot. Inhale deeply.
"Why would we want to go to the Balacruf Mausoleum?" Lloyd asked suspiciously. Inwardly sweating, I shrugged.
"It's just an example, Lloyd. Don't worry about it."
"Oh. Okay." Just like that, I was off the hook. Oh, thank Martel that Lloyd was a great blithering idiot! Well, I take that back. He's not that big an idiot...
Some very soft chuckling from near the wall brought me back to the present, and sparked the beginnings of my temper. "Did you enjoy that?" I hissed under my breath, so soft only he would be sure to hear it. Kratos didn't reply as he went down the stairs, but I was ready to swear that he was laughing at my pathetic excuses.
Just for that, you'll be seeing tomatoes first thing tomorrow, pal...