My longest chapter, the highly anticipated Mama Guy.

Beginnings
By Neko-chan the Mewse
5/17/09

What was wrong with today's world? Guy thought angrily and showed his displeasure by sending out minor earthquakes. War, war, war, was anyone at all a pacifist? When the battle continued he sent out a more violent tremor and the opposing armies eventually retreated. Once they did, he calmed down slightly.

He pouted (a rather unmanly action, he would admit, but it wasn't like anyone was there) and sat down on the ground huffily. He sat on a cliff near Surrey Hill, overlooking the Rugnica Plains with eyes more keen than any mortal creature's. He had been confused when he sensed tremors in the ground that he had nothing to do with and had manifested to get a look.

When Guy saw the fighting, something inside him snapped in anger. It wasn't the sort of anger he used to have towards the people responsible for Hod's destruction. It was more along the lines of the way he felt when Luke did something he shouldn't have when he knew better. Sure, Luke was his friend, but at the same time Luke was also the helpless kid he had taken care of. Luke was like his child, as strange as that statement sounded.

Speak of the devil… "So what's with all the earthquakes?" Luke asked as he plopped down next to Guy.

"They were fighting," Guy scowled, gesturing towards the remains of the battlefield. The ground swallowed up the dead bodies as he did so. "I wanted to get them to stop."

Luke's eyes dimmed in sadness. "Another war already, huh? What's it about this time?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Guy snorted. "As far as I'm concerned any fighting at all within this millennium is too soon for me."

"It's human nature to fight, Guy," Luke said with a tired look in his eye. Guy pitied him for a moment, vaguely remembering that Lorelei was the only sentience to pass memories down with the title. He shuddered at the thought of having the memories of all the previous Gnomes.

"Yeah, well, if they want to fight, they'll have to get used to doing it on moving ground."

Luke looked at him skeptically. "Don't you think that's a little much?"

Guy held his head defiantly. "I'm not going to be like the previous Gnomes. This land belongs to me. If they want to fight over my lands, I'm going to let them know how stupid they're being."

Luke looked startled and then he beamed. "Yeah, I guess this world belongs to us more than it does to them."

"Damn right, it does! I love them all dearly, but if they're going to act like children, that's how I'll treat them."

Luke stared off into the distance with a dreamy look. "They are like our children, aren't they?"

There was a comfortable silence before Guy spoke up again. "As stupid as this is gonna sound, I miss our time." Luke made a noncommittal sound and Guy continued. "I mean, our time was messed up but at least then we could have done something. Even if we walked into a city, nobody knows us here. What good could we do?"

Luke smiled at Guy. "Well, you're doing something now, aren't you?" He gestured towards the abandoned battlefield when Guy looked at him in confusion. "Discouraging battles," Luke tsked in an amused tone. "Honestly, Guy, earthquakes will only work for so long."

Guy shrugged. "Then I'll charge down there in beast form and scare the living daylights out of them."

Luke's eyes got wide. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me," Guy laughed dryly. "War is horrible. My lands feed and provide for these people. Seeing them fight…"

"It tears at you doesn't it. And then you get tired of it and wish it would all go away." Luke sighed. Guy could only nod in agreement.

There was a flash of fire and suddenly Anise was there, wrapping her overly warm arms around his neck. "What are you two doing moping around here?" Against his will, Guy tensed up. Anise poked his stiff shoulder. "Oh come on, it's been four centuries! Don't tell me you're still afraid of girls."

"N-n-no! Of course not! Sorry, force of habit." Guy forced himself to relax, ignoring Anise's grip on him. Of course, then the mischievous girl decided to test if Guy really had gotten over his phobia by sitting on his lap. This resulted in terrified shrieking on Guy's part and piercing laughter on Anise's. A minor scuffle then ensued which ended when Luke firmly sat them down and then put himself between them.

"Wow, Guy, you're kinda pathetic." Anise mused. Guy glared but couldn't really muster a comeback. His phobia was a bit pathetic…but still, did she have to put it that way?

"It's not Guy's fault," Luke scolded Anise. "And now he couldn't get over it if he wanted to."

Anise tilted her head at him and Guy blinked in response, a clear sign to continue.

"You guys honestly haven't thought about it, have you?" Luke said, sounding amused. "Why we take these human forms or why our mentalities haven't changed much."

Anise's face took a thoughtful look before it turned into a scowl. "Are you serious? You mean that's why I haven't gotten any bustier?"

Luke shrugged at her, leaning back and kicking his heels out in front of him. "We're resistant to change. A sentience will retain the form it had when it was offered the position."

"Why didn't I wait a few more years before saying yes," Anise practically wailed.

"Cheer up;" Guy smiled at her in a strained way, "It's not that bad." It was disheartening to hear that he would be afraid of women for the rest of eternity. He wanted nothing more than to go off and sulk, except he could tell Anise was really bummed out. The rest of them were either adults or close enough that it didn't matter, but Anise was still a child. She would never get to grow up.

Anise seemed to realize the impact of it as well, not only on her but on Guy. "I'm okay, Guy. At least I have Ion with me." Guy mentally winced as he recalled that Ion was physically fifteen with the mentality of a three year old. The poor guy. "What about you? I'm sorry you'll never get over your phobia."

"I've lived with it this long," Guy sighed. "To be honest, the thought of not having it just seems weird."

"I could try forgetting about your phobia," Luke offered. "Maybe it'll go away then."

"I'll pass on your offer, thanks." He said. Guy did not like the thought of Luke's actions mucking things up in his head. Sure, he trusted Luke, but at the same time it was Luke and the laws of physics dictated that something go wrong when Luke was involved. That reminded him… "I caught a bunch of people scribbling out a very familiar summoning circle on an island the other day. I enlisted Ion's help and we sunk the island."

"What?" Luke yelped, jumping to his feet. "Guy, you can't just sink islands!"

"Yes I can," Guy yawned, "And I did. I don't want to see you trapped anywhere. None of us do." Not to mention just how much more work they'd have to do if Lorelei was bound to a pact.

"Yeah," Anise chirped, most likely thinking the same thing, "You're important to us. Now get over it."

"Oh, he knows he's important. He just doesn't care."

"Asch!" Anise scurried over to wrap her arms around his middle. "Hi! How are you? I haven't seen you in forever!"

"I know you haven't," Asch replied dryly. Guy stifled his laughter hurriedly. "I came here to get Luke. There's some sort of chaos going on and I'm not really qualified to fix it." Asch was another aspect to Lorelei, representing the seventh fonons contaminated with miasma. While they had cleared most of it, there was still some lingering. It was highly doubtful that they'd get rid of all of it.

"I'm on it," Luke shared a grin with Asch, no doubt the result of some sort of inside joke, before vanishing off. It was still odd, after four centuries, to see the two of them getting along. Anise giggled at the two of them in the creepy way that some girls do.

Guy shook his thoughts away and decided to follow Luke's lead. "Well, I better get going too. There's nothing more to do here. I'll see you guys later." He gave the far off battlefield one last forlorn look before sinking into the ground.

One day, he swore he was going to fix the world. One day.