I still don't own Tales of Legendia, but I do own Rouland and Major Stetson.

For the people who reviewed my first chapter: Thank You!!

Chapter 2

When Senel woke up, darkness was surrounding him. He was about to call out for someone, but then realized he was standing up. Shocked by this, Senel turned his head from side to side franticly, but all he saw was darkness.

"Where am I?"

He started to walk forward; his feet made an echo every time they hit the ground.

What is this place…Where are Will and Chloe?

Senel kept walking for a while longer until he saw a faint light. A feeling of hope rushed through him as he made his way over to the light. He kept running until it hurt for him to breathe, but still the light didn't seem to get any closer.

I don't think I'm getting any closer to the light.

Senel shrugged off the thought and continued to run. After what seemed like hours of running Senel didn't appear to be any closer to the light then from when he started. He dropped to his knees and began to pant heavily.

How far away is the light?

Senel felt very tired from running, so decided that he was going to lie down for a little bit. As he rested he stared at the darkness; it seemed to go on forever. He kept staring up at the darkness until he noticed a faint light shining on him.

Senel got up and turned to the light. There, standing in front of him was Shirley; she was wearing all white, and her hair has also turned white. The light that was on Senel seemed to be coming from the white dress Shirley was wearing. Senel then looked at her face; it showed disappointment.

"What a failure," Shirley spoke in a voice that showed no emotion.

Senel felt hurt and guilty at what she said, he looked down and said in a hurt voice, "Shirley…I'm…I'm…sorry…."

Then he looked up at Shirley. She still looked at him with the same disappointed look on her face.

"Shirley, you know it wasn't my fault, right?"

She didn't say anything for a moment then said, "Making up excuses for being a failure, my, you are useless. You couldn't save me; you couldn't save Stella; and now I doubt you can even save yourself."

Senel was on the verge of crying after hearing those words. She was right though; he failed at saving Shirley or Stella, and was making excuses for not being able to save her.

"Senel, Stella and I are willing to forgive you of your failure."

Senel felt a swell of hope in his chest, and he said in a voice full of hope,

"You-you will?"

"Yes."

"What should I do, for you and Stella to forgive me?"

Shirley turned towards where the light was and pointed.

"You see where that light is?"

Senel turned too; it was the same light he was trying to reach.

"Yeah…that was the same light I was trying to get to."

"Senel, that light is special."

"How?"

"When you enter it, it will take you to the place you must desire."

Senel didn't respond to this; he just kept looking.

"Senel, what place do you desire most?"

After a moment of thought Senel said, "I want to be with you and Stella back at the village."

He looked at Shirley and she looked back at him. Her face still didn't change.

After a moment of silence Senel said in a discouraged voice, "I tried so hard to get there, but I just can't."

Shirley was silent for a moment and then said, "Senel, there is only one way to get to that light.'

"How's that?"

"You have to die."

Senel was startled by this, and fell back. He looked at Shirley, and then in a desperate voice said, "Shirley…there…there's got to be another way…."

Shirley looked back at Senel; her exasperation changed from disappointment to anger.

"No Senel, it is the only way."

"Bu-. "

"Senel, it would be better for you."

"How?"

"Well, Stella and I would forgive you, and you would get to live with us, forever."

"Yeah but…there are still things in life worth living for…"

"Like what?"

Senel didn't answer her; he just looked down.

"There is no more point for you to live. If you did choose to live you would just be hurting yourself, and other people."

Senel didn't say anything; he just kept looking down.

She's right….there is nothing left for….me.

Just then the whole place became a blur. Shirley was starting to fade in and out, and Senel began hearing voices. He couldn't make them out at first, but then they were the only things he could hear.

"I hope Coolidge is alright…."

"Alcott said he should wake up soon…"

Before it was to late to be able to see Shirley, Senel turned over towards her. Her face was the only thing that stood out from her blur. Once he got a good look at her face he opened his mouth and was going scream at what he saw. Her eyes. They were pitch black, with blood streaming from them. Her mouth was moving, but Senel couldn't hear her over the voices. She then started towards the light, and there was someone else there; it looked like Stella. When she got there, they just looked at him; Shirley's eyes were all he could see. He looked away from the two, he now noticed that here was darkness was everywhere around him now. He was beginning to see nothing but darkness.

--

Senel felt the warm sun over his body as he began to wake up. He opened his eyes, and looked straight forward to see a large window. He then looked out into the street, but saw very few people out. He then looked up to see the tops of houses; he saw on that looked like Will's.

I must be in Werites Beacon.

He then turned and looked at the rest of the room; there was a chair and bookcase on the other side of the room. Behind him was a divider, and behind that was another bed. The door stood about ten feet away from the other bed, and was ajar. After concluding that there was nothing left to see, Senel lay back down and began to think.

Is there really anything left for me here? Yes, there are still some things that I have left…. I just can't….

Senel heard footsteps entering the room; he turned around to see Will, Chloe, and a tall man with brown hair and dark clothes enter the room.

"Do you feel alright?" Chloe asked in a caring voice that surprised Senel a little bit.

"Yeah."

"He should be fine in about a day," said the man who was looking at Senel.

"That's good to hear," Will said.

"Alcott, will there be any lasting effects?" Chloe said.

He looked at Senel closely, and after a moment of thought he said, "No."

"That's good."

Alcott was about to say something else when a sudden jolt of pain filled Senel's head, which caused him to groan.

"Hmmm, you're still feeling pain? It seems what I was about to say was true. Well, I guess I'm going to have to give you some medicine."

He reached into his pocket and took out a small vial. He pulled off the cork and lifted it towards Senel's face.

"This is going to make him a little drowsy, so don't expect him to do much while you're here."

"That's okay, just knowing that Coolidge is safe is good enough for us."

When the vial got to his mouth Senel could smell a strong pungent odor coming from it. Trying not to breathe, Senel let the doctor pour the medicine into his mouth.

"The medicine should work almost instantly; you two can sit over there if you want."

Alcott pointed to two chairs by the corner of the room that Senel had somehow missed seeing.

He put the vile the back into his pocket.

"I have to go now, though. Elsa needs my help with a patient."

He started to walk towards the door and then stopped.

"Oh, one more thing; visiting hours are over at five o'clock."

The medicine that Alcott gave Senel was starting to take effect. He soon became very sleepy and felt his eyes getting heavy. The last thing he heard was the door closing.

--

Senel woke up to talking it was Chloe and Will. He turned his head over in the direction of their words, but he was too tired to open his eyes, so all he did was listen.

"Raynard, who were those soldiers that were by the entrance to the Bandit's Lair when we left?"

"Those were the troops of Vaclav Bolud, third prince of the Crusand Empire."

"What!? Why are they here?"

"They were after Shirley."

"Why?"

"They believed that she was the Merines."

"What did they want her for?"

"We think it was to activate a weapon onboard the Legacy."

"What did they do when they found out she was dead?"

"They went back to their base."

"They have a base?"

"Yes, apparently Crusand had troops stationed on the Legacy."

"Why were they stationed here?"

"…. They were experimenting on the Radiant…."

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

"How did you find all of this out, Raynard?"

"When we returned I informed the Holy Sovereign about the troops. I then led a group of Rexalian troops to Vaclav's base."

"The Holy Sovereign! But isn't she the leader of Rexalia?"

"Yes."

"But what is she doing here?"

"You know, the Legacy isn't ruled by any nation."

"Yes, so?"

"How do you think it remains independent?"

"So Rexalia has an army on the Legacy… I never heard of any army on the

Legacy…"

"All of the Rexalian soldiers are in incognito as normal citizens."

"Raynard, there must be other reasons that Rexalia wants to keep the Legacy independent. Surely there are others things here they want."

"There has been much talk of very powerful weapons on board Legacy. Rexalia is a nation that wants world peace; so in order to keep world peace they defend these weapons."

There wasn't any more talking after that. Senel was beginning to feel very weak, and wasn't sure if he could keep conscious for much longer. A clock began to toll. Senel counted the tolls….

2 tolls…

Senel was able to stay awake, much to his surprise.

"What did you and the Rexalian soldiers do when you got to the fortress?"

"We were able to take Vaclav's soldiers by surprise. They were pretty unprepared for an attack, and we took the whole fortress in less then a day."

"What about Vaclav?"

"He was able to slip away before we could reach him."

"Damn."

"We were able to capture two of the Terrors, though."

"Really! Which ones?"

"Melanie and Cashel."

"What about Stingle?"

"He escaped when Vaclav's troops were surrendering."

"And he calls himself a swordsman. Oh well, at least we were able to-"

The door burst open, and a man with an urgent voice began to tell Will and Chloe something, but Senel couldn't make it out. There was a sound of people leaving the room; Senel thought he was alone, but then he heard a very faint voice.

"Get better soon C-" was he was able to hear.

Then he heard the person leave.

After a moment of thought, Senel said in a weak voice, "Thanks, Chloe…"

As Senel lay there, everything started fade away. He couldn't hear anything anymore; he felt his whole body getting heavy.

--

There was noise in the street. Senel was just conscious enough to sit up and see what was happening. There was a big line of carts full of household items.

Why are so many people moving?

Men pulled the carts as women and children followed along side of it. Some of them were crying, but most just had a solemn look on their face. To the side of the street were many bystanders with confused and worried faces.

What's going on?As he continued to look out he noticed something. All the men caring the carts were wearing swords. They also had on similar clothes.

Out of nowhere a young woman ran in front of one of the men carrying the carts. She started to talk to him, but the man just pushed her out of his way and continued to walk on. After she recovered from being pushed she went to the next man in the line. The same thing happened as with the next man. She tried another three more times, but they always did the same thing. After finally realizing she couldn't get them to do what she wanted, so she left with a solemn look on her face.

Senel tried to get out of bed to see what was going on, but his head started to hurt again. So he just lay back down and began to fall asleep. As he was falling asleep he heard the tolling of the clock. It tolled three.

--

"Coolidge, come on, wake up."

Senel slowly opened his eyes to see Chloe and Will standing over him. They both had worried looks on their faces.

"Chloe, Will, what's the matter?"

They both lend back as he sat up. Senel could see that both of them looked tired and frail.

"Senel, there's something we need to tell you."

"What is it?"

Chloe and Will gave each other a nervous glance. Will sighed and looked out the window. Chole just looked down at her feet.

"Well?"

After a moment of awkward silence Will looked up and said, "We are now at war with the Radiant."

Senel felt light headed, and the room began to spin. It took him a minute to calm himself down.

"Wh…Why?"

"Because they believe we killed the Merines."

Senel just sat there with a look of shock and anger. He felt his body beginning to shake. The room started to spin, but Senel was able to calm himself down.

When Senel was sure he was fully calmed down he said in a shaky voice "But…but we never killed her…."

"Senel, they believe that you, Chloe, and I killed Shirley; they think we did this to show our hatred to the Radiant."

Senel looked down into his lap, and the horrible pain was back in his head. He could now feel some of his tears coming down his face. Chloe and Will both looked away, they didn't want to see Senel in this state.

"Will…"

"Yes?"

"Will we have to fight them?"

Will was silent for a moment, and then he said, "Only if they attack us."

Senel hoped that they would never attack Weritas Beacon, but he knew that it would happen one day. Then Senel thought of something.

"Will, I heard that the Rexalian army was aboard the Legacy."

Will was surprised by this comment and was about to say something but decided not to.

"Coolidge, the Rexialian army is needed in their own country."

"Why?"

"It wasn't just the Radiant on the Legacy that declared war on us, all the Radiant did."

"Senel, over the last hour there have been great uprisings of the Radiant all over the mainland. Rexalia has one of the largest Radiant populations in the world; they need all of their solders they have to protect its citizens. It has been reported that fifty people have already been killed."

"Were those people who were pulling the carts soldiers of the Rexalian Army?"

Will had a look of mild surprise on his face.

"You saw that?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, all the men you saw pulling the carts were Rexalian soldiers."

Senel sat there quietly trying to contemplate all of what had seen while he was awake, and all the events in the rest of the world.

"Will, how are we going to protect Werites Beacon without an army?"

"We are going to form a militia and fortify the city."

There was a knock on the door, all three of them turned to see a small boy. He came in and approached Will, he pulled out a letter and gave it to him, then left the room. Will read the letter, and the more he read the paler his face became. When he finished it, he dropped the letter and sat down on a chair.

"Raynard, what's wrong?"

Will took a deep breath and said, "There has been an attack on the outskirts of Werites Beacon, and the attackers were Radiant."

Chloe and Senel were quiet. They didn't know how to respond or how to act.

"Chloe, Senel, I have to discuss some things."

Will got off the chair and started towards the door.

"Will, is it my fault that this war has started?"

Will looked back at Senel, who was now staring into his lap.

"Is it my fault that Shirley and others will die?"

Will didn't know what to say. After a few seconds he said, "Senel, Shirley's death wasn't your fault."

He turned and left the room. The clock tolled five times. Senel looked up at Chloe, who was beginning to head for the door.

"Chloe."

She stopped, but she didn't turn around.

"Chloe, please don't go…. please…."

"Coolidge I have to g-"

"Please don't leave me alone."

She then turned back at Coolidge; he was looking at her with watery eyes. She didn't know what to do.

After some thought she said, "Coolidge, I guess can stay for a little bit."

"Thank you."

She walked back to the chair, as she sat she just started to notice how long the shadows were in the room. Neither of them talked for a long time; Senel went back to looking into his lap and Chloe blankly stared at Senel.

"Chloe."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for comforting me."

Chloe was both surprised and confused at what Senel had said.

"Coolidge, I didn't do anything."

He stared up at her with grateful eyes and made a weak smile.

"You where here, and that helped me."

Chloe felt a weird sensation inside of her; she looked down at her to avoid having Coolidge seeing her discomfort. She could barely see her feet; it was so dark in the room. She heard Coolidge get out of bed and walk towards her. When he got in front of her she looked up at him, she could only see the prominent areas of his face. He looked down at her.

"Thank you; knowing that my lasts hours were spent peacefully helps me."

She didn't respond. She just couldn't stop looking at his face.

Seeing that Chloe wasn't going to say anything Senel continued, "Chloe, knowing that Shirley's death and this war is my fault, I really do appreciate what you have done for me."

Chloe still didn't say anything, but now she didn't want to look at Coolidge any more. He went back to his bed and lay down. After a while of not moving Chloe guessed that Coolidge was asleep. She made her way quietly to the door; before she opened it she thought she heard Coolidge talking in his sleep about the light and how he was going to it soon. Before she left she locked his door from the outside and went to get Raynard.

Senel was still until he was sure Chloe wasn't going to come back. He walked over to the door and fond it locked. Not being discouraged by this, Senel stepped back a little and kicked the door out. Astonishingly, no one came to see what the noise was, so Senel quickly went down the hallway and down the stairs. No one was in the lobby ether, so Senel dashed through the door and left.

The night air felt good against his skin as he went outside. Senel looked around and saw that the streets were empty. He decided not to run through the streets, so he simply walked to where he was headed. The only light in the street came from the street lamps and the full moon; all of the houses had their lights turned off. When he got to the main road he saw men who were wearing swords standing around in the street. Senel didn't know what would happen to him if he was caught by the soldiers, so he tried to think of another way, but the only other way he could think of was going past Will's house, which he didn't want to do.

"Hey you!"

Senel was caught up in his thought he didn't see one of the men come towards him. The man was a very tall and thin, he hard on dark clothes and had a sword at his side. When he got up to Senel he looked at him suspiciously.

"There's a curfew currently under way; why are you breaking it?"

"I wanted to help the wounded that were attacked."

"Well thank you for offering to help, but we don't need it."

"Why not?"

"We have plenty of people tending to them."

Senel was starting to get frustrated; this militiaman was making it difficult.

"Rouland, what are you doing?"

Senel looked to where the voice came from; there was an ill looking man that was very pale. He was also very short, no more than five feet tall.

"Uh, Major Stetson sir!"

"Why is there a civilian out past curfew?"

"He uh, wanted to help with the wounded sir."

"I see, well then why don't you let him?"

"But sir! We have enough-"

"Rouland, your decision doesn't mean anything. My decision does. Do you not agree?"

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Then let him go to the wounded, you moron!"

"Right away sir!"

Rouland moved out of his way and pointed down the street to the inn.

"They are being treated at the inn."

As Senel made his way passed he heard Rouland mumble about how much of a conceited son of a bitch the major was, and Senel agreed with him. He then made his way past the major. He was glad that the major didn't speak to him. When he was a little farther down the road, Senel felt bad for Rouland. Having a higher who was a conceited son of a bitch must suck.

When got to the inn he walked right past it and went to the gate. He found the drawbridge up. He looked over to the crank and saw a young child next to it. He walked over to the kid and looked down; he was asleep. Moving carefully around him Senel went to the crank and slowly lowered the drawbridge. He quickly moved passed the kid and ran onto the drawbridge and then outside.

I wonder how long it will take them to realize that the drawbridge is down?

But Senel didn't care he just kept walking on. After a while of walking Senel suddenly realized that he didn't know how he was going to kill himself yet. He knew he wanted to do it outside of Werites Beacon, but now that he got this far he wasn't sure on what to do. After not doing anything for a while, Senel heard something distant, and he knew what it was, and then he knew how he was going to do it. He started towards the noise. He was lucky there was a full moon out, or else it would have taken him a lot longer to get to the noise. But it only took him a short time to get to it, the place he decided to end his life and to start a new one with Stella and Shirley. The sea.

Senel looked down; from on top of the cliff he could see the waves pounding against the rocks. Very sharp rocks, which still have not been worn away by the sea. He then started to back away from the edge of the cliff.

Stella, Shirley, I hope after I do this that all three of us will live together in happiness.

He stopped about twenty feet away from the cliff he began to run. The cool ocean breeze felt good as he ran off the edge of the cliff.

Another Cliffhanger? (Sorry about that)

Please review!