Blood Stained Truth

19 year olds.

The Rheaird soared silently through the air. Tath scanned the ground, looking for any signs of the Chosen and her group. Nothing. But as the Rheaird moved over the wild grown trees and bushes, something of it felt familiar to Tath. But that had been a long time ago, in another world…

Ten years old.

Sylvarant. Tath hadn't been there since… since the Ranch. Her new sword hung by a belt around her hips, still shining like frost. She reached to her pocket, wondering how much Gald she had. Well, enough, anyway. She turned her steps to the only city in Sylvarant she knew: Asgard.

She stopped at the entrance. The calm winds made the windmill turn slowly. If only Tath could feel so peaceful too.

'That's a cool sword.'

The voice made Tath spin around, grasping her sword, more to protect it than use it. A boy stood behind her, around her own age, maybe a few years older, with brown hair and pale clothes. He wasn't rich, but not poor either.

Tath surveyed him with a raised eyebrow. 'Yeah, I know.' She then turned her back to him again.

'Where'd you get it?'

Tath started walking to get rid of the boy, looking for the nearest shop.

'Huh?' He didn't surrender.

'None of your business,' Tath replied coolly, ignoring him, hoping he would get the hint.

'Suit yourself,' the boy said and fell silent, so long that Tath thought she'd lost him.

'Where'd you come from?'

Tath stopped, fought the urge to lash out at the boy and then slowly turned.

'Don't you have somewhere to be?'

'No.'

Tath sighed irritated. 'Let me put it this way. Get lost!'

The boy suddenly looked sad. 'I would go, but I don't have any friends to go to.'

Tath sighed. '…All right.'

The boy immediately lightened up. 'What's you name?'

Tath sighed inwards. 'Tatheya.'

'I'm Pietro.'

Well, good for you, then, Tath sighed.

'Where are you from?'

'What do you mean?' Tath asked, as she was looking around for a shop.

'Well, where do you live?'

'Outside the city,' Tath shrugged, finally finding what she was looking for, a little shop by the caves.

Pietro was, for once, silent, as she was purchasing the gels and bottles she needed. As she had packed them down, he started talking again.

'Have you ever ridden a dragon?'

Tath stopped in her movement, and looked at him.

'…That came out of nowhere,' she said to herself, then turned her gaze to the boy. 'What are you, stupid? You can't ride a dragon, they're dangerous!'

'Nu-uh,' he said, grinning, and shook his head. 'There's this man who has dragon tours, and his dragons are kind. He has them right outside the city. You should see them!'

Tath didn't know why, but she hooked on to the idea. A dragon meant a transport. It was before Tath knew about the existence of Rheairds, and she reluctantly followed the happy boy.

19 years old.

There! The Fooji Mountains! She stopped the Rheaird and looked down. The group was now heading up towards the top.

Why? She moved the Rheaird so she could get a better view of the top. There was nothing there. Curious, she programmed the Rheairds for auto landing, and as it started to move she took a deep breath and jumped up, off the Rheaird, made a backflip in the air to then fall down quickly at the ground. The wind roared in her ears and made her eyes fill up with tears.

But she wouldn't crash on the ground. No, she knew exactly how to land. She closed her eyes and concentrated…

Ten years old.

'This here, is sweet little Chip. Isn't he cute?'

The young greenish dragon carefully walked up to Tath to blow at her with a warm breath.

'He's boring,' Tath couldn't help to whisper to Pietro, but he didn't pay any attention.

'Are these all the dragons you have? I might be interested in one a little bit more…lively one,' Tath asked the man, looking suspiciously at Chip as she nosed around in her bag for sweets.

The man looked down at Tath, surprised how mature she seemed in her talk, yet so little in age.

'How old are you?' he asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Eleven,' Tath replied with a strong gaze.

The man shrugged and gave up.

'Well, there's one, here in the back.'

Tath followed him, suddenly hearing strange noises from their destination. Roaring, pounding and something that sounded like flapping, wings maybe.

Tath was met by the sight of a dragon, a little smaller than Chip, in a dark reddish colour with bright green eyes, his wings turning dark blue at the tip of his wings. But the dragon wasn't exactly as nice as Chip. It tugged its rope that tied him to a pole, flapping his wings and gave small shrieks time to time.

'What's his name?' Tath asked impressed, aware of Pietro trying to hide behind her back.

'Napoleon,' the dragon man said and looked depressed at the wild animal.

'Napoleon? That's a strange name', Tath remarked, watching the dragon as he had detected her, and was blowing warm smoke in her direction, studying her suspiciously.

'Indeed, but it kind of suits him.'

Tath tasted the name. Napoleon. It seemed like a proud name, and the man was right, it suited him.

'Too bad I can't keep the wild bastard.'

Tath looked up. 'What?'

'He's a danger to my customers. Can't keep him.'

Tath guessed he wasn't exactly going to sell him, more execute him.

'Why not just sell him?'

The man gave a laugh. 'Who do you think wants him? He's yours for five gald,' he said, joking.

But Tath was every bit serious as she looked at the man.

'Deal.'

19 years old.

She landed softly at a rock, crouching down to be out of visibility. Soon the group came, Zelos in the front. The wind was blowing so hard, not even Tath with her sharp ears could make out the conversation.

She sided to merely watch the group. She gave a shrug to herself. After all, what interesting could happen here?

A second after her last thought though, the group below her ran straight into a trap. A impenetrable force field suddenly surrounded the group, saved for the numb Colette. And then, out of nowhere, a group of Renegades showed up, along with - Tath's eyes narrowed - Yuan. The Seraphim positioned himself directly under the rock Tath was crouching on, and she pressed herself closer to the hard surface, trying to blend into the rock. Now, as things became more interesting, she craned her neck, trying to overhear the conversation through the hard wind.

'You've walked right into my trap, fools!' Hearing Yuan's voice and his nack for giving really clichéd lines gave Tath the urge to tune out the conversation again, but still, kept listening.

Lloyd gave a grin, and suddenly turned to Zelos, the one who had led the party, and also, into the trap. '…He just called you a fool. '

The little girl, Presea was her name, Tath thought, turned. 'Zelos… is clumsy.'

Zelos hung his head in depression. 'Gah…I'm so sad now…'

Tath gave a satisfied grin to herself. She decided that this little Presea girl was definitely someone she liked.

Yuan gave a frustrated sigh at the group's conversation, and nodded to his worker.

'You. Retrieve the Rheairds.'

The 'desians' he had with him walked away, with a 'Yes, Sir!' and left Yuan alone to talk to the group.

'This time you're mine, Lloyd.'

Tath rose her eyebrows. Oh, right, the whole Lloyd thing. What was with that kid anyway?

' ..damn!' Lloyd swore to himself, but Tath tuned it out as she suddenly noticed, the leader of the Grand Cardinals, Pronyma appearing. She knew what Pronyma was after, though. Colette.

'Oh? Lord Yuan,' she asked, puzzled over his presence, 'What brings you to this place?

Suddenly Genis perked up, whispering something to Lloyd. 'I've think I've seen that lady somewhere before…'

Yuan crossed his arms, looking at Pronyma in slight irritation. ' I should ask you the same, Pronyma. The role of you Desians is to wreak havoc upon the declining world!'

Pronyma merely shot him a cool look, continuing past him. 'I have come here on Lord Yggdrasill's order to retrieve Colette. Please turn her over to me.'

'Fine,' Yuan grunted, 'But in exchange for handing over the Chosen, I am taking custody of Lloyd. I trust you have no objections?'

Pronyma watched him with raised eyebrows. She could not imagine what Yuan would want with a human. 'I have received no orders in regards of him, so, please do as you wish, my lord,' she settled for saying though.

Then, with a flutter of a light sigh, she floated over to where Colette was, a slight wicked grin on her face.

'Colette!' Lloyd exclaimed, 'Don't go!'

Pronyma gave a short laughter. 'A futile effort. Your words cannot reach a Chosen who has lost her soul.' Then she suddenly fell silent, pausing for a while, as she discovered something on Colette's Cruxis Crystal. 'What is this? Why is there such a crude Key Crest upon the Cruxis Crystal?' She did not wait for an answer, as she continued. '…How pathetic. I shall remove this ugly thing at once.'

As she moved to remove it though, something strange happened. Even Tath was surprised, as she raised her eyebrows. Colette came to life.

'N…no!' she shrieked, her eyes turning from their menacing shade of red, back to her dark blue ones, 'This is a birthday present that Lloyd gave me!'

Tath rolled her eyes. She's alive, and yet she keeps ranting about the boyfriend…

Genis looked at his friend in shock. 'Colette… spoke!'

'Colette!' Lloyd cried out incredulous. 'Are you back to normal!'

Colette, coming back to her full senses, looked around. 'What? Why is everyone… inside that thing?' she asked, referring to the force field, capturing her friends.

Yuan's eyebrows knitted together in frustration. 'Impossible! There's no way that pitiful Key Crest could restrain the Cruxis Crystal!'

Tath gave a yawn. This conversation was boring her out. She tuned out of it, sitting back on the rock again, merely watching the scene below her. Colette, joyous of being back, suddenly tripped over a switch, freeing everybody else. Tath raised an eyebrow. This should make things more interesting, she thought, although at the same time feeling slightly bored. She started looking for a way down the rock, without being spotted. As she looked up again towards the group, she saw that they were fighting Pronyma. She paused, a sort of impressed look upon her face. Well, what do you know…

Then, ignoring them again, she slowly crept down the big rock she was residing on and down to the ground. She doubted she even had to creep, the others wouldn't notice her if she was throwing explosions around her. Crouching behind a couple of boulders, closer to the group, she watched as the battle came to an end. To her surprise, Lloyd and the others won.

Panting slightly, Lloyd watched as Pronyma collapsed on the ground, and immediately turned his gaze towards Yuan. The seraphim looked at him sourly, as Lloyd opened his mouth to speak. 'This is the perfect opportunity! Yuan! I'm going to settle our score right now!'

Something very surprising happened then. As Lloyd rushed forth, unsheathing his swords, raising them to attack Yuan, someone appeared, blocking his blow right in front of Yuan. Tath's eyes widened. It was Kratos.

Lloyd seemed equally shocked to see Kratos, but perhaps not by the same reason as Tath. 'Kratos!' he exclaimed.

Yuan, his wings out, turned to the seraphim, irritated.

'…What are you doing here?'

Kratos, his arms folded, did not even look at Yuan. 'Leave, Yuan. Lord Yggdrasill has summoned you.'

Tath crept even closer to them, wanting to see more of Kratos. He was wearing a dark suit, with straps of white leather over it, his red hair flowing in the wind, getting in his face.

Yuan's expression was now murderous. He growled. 'Are you taking the Chosen?'

Kratos finally turned his eyes to the man, his eyes cold as stone. 'No… we shall leave her for now. It's the toxicosis.'

Yuan paused. '…I see. Lloyd, our battle will have to wait.'

And with that, he turned and flapping his wings once, he soared of the cliff, towards the sky. Sheena gave a frustrated sigh. 'He's an angel, too!' she asked, but no one responded, as Lloyd had already run to the edge of the cliff, shouting after Yuan. 'Dammit, Yuan! Wait!'

He had forgotten about Kratos, who was looking at him, his arms still folded, one eyebrow raised coolly.

'…What are you doing?'

Lloyd, realising he was still there, turned around. '..What?'

Kratos continued, not even bothering to take a breath. 'Why have you come all the way here to Tethe'alla?'

Lloyd, kind of surprised by the question, searched for an answer. 'I'm here to save Colette…'

Kratos regarded him, suddenly a bit irritated. 'What good will saving the Chosen do? The relation of the two worlds vying for each other's mana will not change.' Then his voice suddenly turned calm again. 'Their positions have merely been reversed by the regeneration ritual.'

Sheena, alarmed, looked up. 'Has Tethe'alla begun to decline?'

Kratos turned to look at the Tower of Salvation. 'The Tower of Salvation can still be seen from this world as well. As long as that exists here, it means that this world is still flourishing. Although, in the event that the Chosen becomes Martel's vessel, Tethe'alla will surely bid farewell to its era of prosperity.'

Lloyd became frustrated. 'Dammit, isn't there anything that can be done!'

Tath tuned out of the conversation again, as Lloyd was complaining about the worlds, hearing his words in her head. Isn't there anything that can be done? She gave a sigh. I wish I knew…

She looked up to the scene, listening as Lloyd vowed to save the worlds.

Kratos looked at Lloyd, his tone implying something strange. 'If you want to do something about it, use your own head. …I though you weren't going to make any more mistakes?'

Tath frowned. The way Kratos spoke, it was almost as he was encouraging Lloyd and the others. But he was with Cruxis…right?

Lloyd looked at him, his eyes narrowed. 'Yeah, I'll do it. This stupid system of two worlds stealing mana from each other… I swear I'll change it!'

A lopsided grin appeared on Kratos' lips. 'Heh… well, do you best.'

And with that, he flew off, with the wounded Pronyma by his side.

Tath paused, thinking for a moment, as the group was deciding what to do next. The words of Kratos were still ringing in her ears. It seemed for a moment like he wasn't with Cruxis at all… And she couldn't help to think of the time he had saved her in the Asgard ranch, where he had openly threatened Kvar, someone of Cruxis, to save her. Frowning, but ignoring her thoughts, she snapped up Lloyd's and the others' words.

'Now what shall we do?' Raine asked, 'Since Colette has regained her soul, there's nowhere for us to head immediately back to Sylvarant, but…'

Lloyd suddenly looked back at the group, something burning in his eyes. 'We know what we have to do! We're going to search for a way to save both world in order to prevent any more Chosen like Colette!'

Colette gave a smile. 'I agree with Lloyd. I promised Sheena, too.'

Tath gave a sudden smile. And she used to think there were no things as a heart of gold. Colette was a living proof. Soon, the party became prepared to continue the journey, and Tath crouched behind the rocks as they walked by, snapping up Lloyd's and Colette's words.

Lloyd gave a smile. '…Welcome back.'

Colette looked at him, with something in her eyes that was not too hard for Tath to see what it was, '…Hehe. I'm glad to be back.'

14 years old.

Life in the wild of Sylvarant continued. Years passed. Tath and Pietro came friends, a relationship similar to her and Sheena's. She did not let Pietro close. He lived in the village, as she lived in the wild in the shadow of the Asgard Ranch, with Napoleon. Pietro came out to her almost everyday, helping her to tame the dragon so that he could later be used to ride on.

In time Tath travelled to Altessa, seeking his help with her exsphere. She knew he might be in conspiracy with her father, but she needed someone to help her with her exsphere. While she lived in Mizuho she'd had one of the village's blacksmith do it, since they were the only ones who knew the art well enough. Although Altessa offered it many times, she never stayed longer than she had to with him. She still needed to handle herself, just as the Chief had told her when she was a child. Nevertheless, she eventually started to trust the dwarf.

Tath soon turned the age of fifteen, matured into a woman and cast the child aside, something Pietro noticed and in secret, fell in love with her. But Tath failed to notice as once again, the feeling of moving on came to her.

Napoleon was about five years, still hardly trained, or ridden. She had merely ridden him three times, neither of the times did he fly.

It was on one of those days as she was sitting by her camp in the forest glade, eating a loaf of bread as a late breakfast, as they came. Those who would be the trigger of Tath leaving again.

The Desians.

They rushed past her glade, but failed to notice her as they were well concealed by the dark trees. Napoleon lifted his head nervously, but Tath shot him a warning glance, telling him to be silent. The half-elves rushed into Asgard where soon much noise started. Women screamed and smoke rose from the buildings.

Tath stood up, alarmed. She knew what the Desians were doing.

They were taking more people to their ranch.

They soon came back, rushing past Tath again, this time with people locked in carriages, screaming and crying. It was then she saw him. Standing by the people in the carriages, was Pietro. Their eyes met for only moments, as the carriage moved on in a haste.

Tath stood for a while in shock. Then the feeling started to surge in her. Anger. Rage. She closed her fist with the exsphere as she felt her rage triggering it to feed her with power. Mad power. She grabbed her bag and sword, and the rope to Napoleon's halter. She fastened her bag to his saddle and then swung up in his saddle. For once the dragon did not protest. Then she looked up, after the trail of the Desians.

They were not getting away with this. Not this time.

She drove on Napoleon who dashed forward in a trot down the hill.

'Come on, fly!' she said to him, driving him on. It only resulted in that he ran faster, eventually hitting gallop. Tath sighed and pulled the reins and turned the dragon around on the spot. Then she drove him up back that hill where they had come from. The hill where Tath knew there was a sharp drop behind.

Napoleon galloped up the hill, still quite unused to the part where he was steered by someone sitting on his back, as he wobbled a bit to the sides, but Tath kept a firm grip on the reins, still urging him forward.

Each leap took them closer to the drop until Napoleon came to the end, gave a snort with a breath of smoke and leaped of the hill, spread out his wings and…

…And they fell. They tumbled through the air, Tath grasping his neck, her heart in her throat, suddenly aware of her mistake. She had acted without thinking! What if Napoleon was too young to have learned to fly yet?

But then the dragon snorted again, started flapping his wings, and soon, his wings carried both his weight and Tath's, as they hovered in the air.

Tath gave a grin and then tugged the reins, pressing his sides as the dragon soared forward in the air.

They soon found the trail of the Desians, only…they were not heading towards the Asgard Ranch, as Tath had suspected, but to the Palmacosta Ranch. Probably to be sorted out to other ranches, Tath thought grimly.

She hid Napoleon in a forest just outside the ranch for a quick escape. Then she grabbed her sword in her hand and marched right up to the gates of the ranch and promptly slit the throats of the two guards outside the great door. Indeed, Tath had grown much, immune to waver at the sight of blood as most people did those days. She was also highly skilful with the sword, due to her many days in Mizuho and her own personal training.

Five dead guards later, she stood by the warp point that would take her to the leader's room. She knew his name was Magnius, she had heard a lot of things in her childhood at the ranch. She gripped harder on her sword. She would go in, kill Magnius, and then free Pietro and his people. With a determined sigh she stepped into the light of the warp…

As the bright light before her eyes vanished, Tath took a step forward into Magnius office, her grip around the sword tightening. She saw Magnius, who stood talking to someone. Who it was Tath could not see as he was hid behind a pillar, but Tath did not care who it was. She would easily kill him later, with all that rage pumping in her, feeding her with power.

She quickly ran, swift and silently up behind Magnius, pressing her sword against his throat. The Desian gave a surprised cry, but Tath was too strong for him, how powerful he might yet be, because she was angry. Very angry.

'It is time to pay,' she hissed, 'for all the lives you have put out.'

'What are you doing?' Magnius said to her, struggling against her. Then he cried, 'My Lord, help me!' Tath assumed he was talking to whomever he had been talking to before, but he was too late.

'It is time,' Tath said, 'to die.'

And she would have killed him, if it wasn't for that suddenly she was pulled away with a great force and thrown over the floor. She growled inwards at herself. She had forgotten about the other man in the room. Grasping her sword she jumped to her feet again, ready to face her attacker.

She pulled the hair out of her face and turned. And dropped her sword in surprise. Before her stood her father, equally surprised as she was. How he recognised was a mystery to Tath though, since they hadn't seen each other for eight years. He was the one who found himself quicker however, as Magnius, who stood behind him and had not seen his surprise, paced up to them. Her father looked at him.

'It is only a girl. You should not be bothered by her.'

Magnius looked as he was about to say something, but stopped himself as Tath's father was from a much higher order than himself.

'She will be captured, of course,' her father replied to Magnius doubting expression. 'And I may as well take her there. I believe our meeting is over, right?'

Magnius nodded, but seemed suspicious of it all.

Tath's father bent down and retrieved her sword and walked out the room before her. Tath, still stunned, came back to her senses as two guards walked up beside her, grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the room.

Once the doors had shut behind them, her father turned and with one blow knocked one of her guards unconscious, and Tath took care of the other, freeing herself. Her father tossed her her sword and started talking.

'I don't understand why you have come, but you have to get out of here. I will tell Magnius that-' He broke off in the middle of his sentence as the tip of Tath's sword was pointed to his throat. He looked at her with the blue eyes that Tath knew she had inherited.

'Tath,' he asked calmly, 'what are you doing?'

It was as if she did not even hear him. In her head she relived her four years of terror in the Asgard Ranch. Her father was the reason for her pain. He was of Cruxis. The organisation that had brought her that pain. If she killed him, she would have revenge. Everything would be paid back.

'I hate you,' was all she could bring to her lips as answer to her father's question. He gave a sigh, realising what she meant.

'Tath,' he said, 'not now. There's no time-'

'Time?' Tath snapped back. She couldn't help it. She was furious. It had been eight years since she'd last seen him, and he hadn't lifted a finger to find her. Or more, when she was in the ranch, he'd had four years to help her.

'You seem to take plenty of time to make things, don't you?' she bellowed. 'Tell me, why should I care for your life, if you so obviously don't care about mine?'

Her father was about to reply, when they heard footsteps behind them, running. He turned to her. 'Tath, get out. Hurry.'

Tath merely looked at him. She could not believe his attitude. He hadn't seen his own daughter in eight years, and merely threw her aside. In a daze she remembered herself running away from the ranch, having forgotten about Pietro and the others as she merely took Napoleon back to the dragon-man, returning him and her contract of purchase, and left Asgard.

It wasn't until later that she decided to leave it all. Why fight for something she obviously couldn't win over? She dropped to the ground and enwrapped her sword in a cloth, not wanting to use it for a long time. Then she looked up. She was going to leave Sylvarant.

Where would she go? She gave a grin.

Meltokio.