Here's part 5 of my little fic-let, and I apologize for being a bit late on this one... I've been a tad bit obsessed with Portal 2 and have a lot of homework due, so it was hard just getting to my computer this week... Also, I'm having a hard time finding inspiration for my tenth chapter of this (all of this story is pre-written), so updates might be a bit sparse from here on out until late June.

And as for length, I'm thinking it'll end somewhere near the end of Norma's character arc. This, being because I never wanted that huge of a story anyways, and I'm terrible at keeping up with the canon storyline and putting you all to sleep with unoriginal lines… OR at least, in my eyes it's unoriginal. ...That was before I continued writing it, and it kinda evolved into a somewhat different idea then I had intended. Now, I've no clue where it's ending!

At any rate, author's problem, not yours. Enjoy the chapter.

Title's from Storm by Lifehouse.

Enjoy the chapter! Themes include Yellow Submarine - The Beatles and Storm - Lifehouse.

Chapter 5 - Storm

"In the town were I was born… Lived a man, who sailed to sea~!"

In the cafe near the bakery, sitting at one of the seats was Walter munching on a crepe. Currently, he was trying to ignore the irritatingly addictive tune sounding from a nearby group of singers, who were getting ecstatic hollers of enjoyment and excitement. All wore a strange brand of clothing, beads hanging from shirts and while half of the four-man-band had huge fluffed hair, the other two wore theirs long with bandannas. They cheerfully sang their song and strummed guitars, grins on their faces.

"…And we lived beneath the waves. In our yellow submarine~!"

The blond gritted his teeth and held his head, trying to get that stupid annoying song out of his head. Nerifes damn it, it was stuck now!

"We all live in a yellow submarine~! Yellow submarine~! Yellow submarine~!"

After they had finished and started singing something about an incoming sun, the Ferines left the cafe with a very short temper and a song bouncing around in his head. What the heck was a submarine anyway?

Walking out of the city, he walked into the duct outside and set the coordinates to send him to the duct outside of the Village of the Ferines. At least he could find out if much has changed, which rumors from the fountain plaza made it sounded like it had. Feeling himself teleport and them warp back miles away from where he had started, he peered around for the clearing in the forest of fir and pine. He walked along the perimeter and kept out of sight, gazing along the lake where the village rested upon. At the moment, the mirage that kept it a secret was still in place, and even though he was worried someone may sense another sneaking through the barrier, he needed answers. Maybe this would help…

Using his black teriques wings to float near the entrance, he looked around the clearing before performing the seal that allowed his entrance. The visage of the lake view faded as a coral-red archway appeared in front of him, stepping stones in water creating a path into the settlement. Careful not to alert anyone, he snuck in, keeping to the shore and brush. As he passed he overheard two curious Ferines walk toward the entrance, speaking in confused tones as they walked right past him

Walter let out a slow breath and continued, listening in to any conversations that seemed relevant. Though even as he listened to gossip and comparing grilled salmon recipes, he felt low for eavesdropping on his own. Sure, doing it to the Orerines just felt like he was reliving some of the missions he performed when he was younger, but he felt bad intruding on the Ferines' privacy. They had enough things on their mind as of late.

He moved on, going to the edge of the village and leaping into a tall maple, eating an apple away from prying eyes. At least he wasn't hungry this time around. ...Or poisoned. Or wounded by a dragon. Especially the dragon bit.

As he finished the apple, he dropped the apple core into the bush below the tree and watched the people converse and move about with their normal lives. Leaning against the tree, he let one leg dangle from the branch he sat on and relaxed. It was nice to be back in the village, among his own people, even if just for an afternoon from a distance. He missed the smell of the fresh water, the array of decorative shells in the homes and smoked fish grilling outside one woman's house. As much as it brought back memories that kept him up late at night, he couldn't compare how much he had missed it.

Closing his eyes, he listened to the conversations below with half-lidded eyes, relaxing and nearly feeling a sense of normalcy again. Long moments passed by, and a breeze began to rustle the large star-shaped leaves around him. People came and went, conversations ended and begun again, and someone far off whistled as they carried a box filled with papers and books. Then, one voice shattered his trance with a single sentence.

"…Are you going to go see Fenimore again?" Eyes shot open and he turned sharply to lock on to the person who had said it. An older women who's light hazel-colored hair shone gold in the sunlight spoke to a younger girl who carried a few flowers in her hands.

"Yeah. I'll meet you at the shop afterwards." She spoke, and seemed so familiar, but in what way he couldn't distinguish. But if she knew Fenimore, it may offer some sort of info… Or just painfully remind him of something he knew already.

The two women nodded to each other, and the younger walked in the direction of the other side of the village, which he remembered led to a small clearing filled with evergreen trees. He quietly slipped out of the tree and followed closely, curious about this girl and her connection with Fenimore.

He slipped into another tree nearby, and noticed the scenery had changed slightly. Under a tree near the edge of the forest, was a fir who's large branches hung over a rosy slab of stone surrounded by a small garden blooming with flowers. His chest ached when he knew who it symbolized.

"Fenimore…" Walter said softly, and noticed the girl walk into the clearing, face turned away, and noticed for the first time the two strands of hair that fell from the back of her head, in the same style that Fenimore's did… Exactly the way Fenimore's did.

Who was this girl…?

She stopped in front of the grave, flowers he recognized as carnations still within her fingers. "Hi Fenimore. Another sunny day here, though not that you mind terribly. You always loved warm days like this." She crouched in front of the stone and placed the flowers on top of the stone. "Lisa's carnations finally bloomed; I brought a few for you to see. Pretty, aren't they? Her garden's just gotten bigger; she even planted more irises near her window; there isn't even room to see out of them anymore!"

The girl was silent for a while, then touched her fingertips to the cool stone in front of her, "…I miss you, Fenimore… Ever since you died, I… Things don't seem the same anymore. I was so happy to hear you were alive, and I did everything I could to get back to the Legacy to meet you here, but you… you died. Those filthy Orerines killed you, and… I... I don't know what to do now." She trailed off, her voice about to break.

The Ferines girl stood to her feet, and turned slightly towards him, and he couldn't completely stifle his gasp of shock. It was like he was looking at Fenimore once more, every detail of her face was just like her! He tried to remember something he thought he had heard somewhere… Didn't Fenimore have a twin sister on the mainland?

Startled by a sound in the tree near her, she turned towards his direction in surprise, pausing to wipe her eyes quickly. "Who's there?" She walked towards the area curiously, annoyed that her private meeting had been interrupted.

Cursing himself silently, Walter gathered himself in the tree and shot out through the leaves like a bullet. He took a moment to quickly peek below at the girl, who's eyes widened when she saw his form zoom through the air above her. She turned and ran back towards the village, but the time she spent running towards Maurits alerting him of the strange person in Orerines garb had been wasted. By that time, Walter had already sped around the outskirts of the village and through the duct before she could utter a single word about his presence.

x x x

Sitting in the shade of the fountain plaza again, Walter felts his thoughts spinning around the girl in the Village. So, apparently that girl was Fenimore's twin, and was now residing in the Village of the Ferines. He felt pity for her; twins had such strong bonds they sometimes could even read the other's thoughts, and she had her beloved sibling ripped from her.

His chest felt tight remembering the girl's sister, so eager to help somehow in the battle at the Bridge. She looked so determined (and a bit rude in the Waterways), and he was a bit confused as to why she stayed on the Legacy instead of searching for her sister. It seemed that she gave the Merines, Shirley a pep talk which allowed her to go on with the Rite of Accession. Yet... If she had left the Legacy for the mainland, then odds are she would have reunited with her sister and still be alive.

Shaking morbid thoughts from his head, the blond felt as if he had an obligation to Fenimore's twin sister. Was he supposed to help her move on? Was that his mission?

It seemed likely, but... somehow he felt that wasn't the whole story. But what else could it be? He sure as hell wasn't going to cheerfully walk up to Senel and say, "Hi, you may remember me as the person who tried to kill you numerous times before you ended up killing me and making me fail at the duty I was supposed to perform, which was the main purpose of my life since before I can remember. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for hating, no, despising your pitiful Orerines self and trying to kill you and your race even when you may have deserved it. Friends?" He'd rather be burned alive that say that.

He was more of a "Hi. You killed me, and it's time for a little payback. Eye for an eye, right?" person anyway…

Walter leaned back against the tree on the edge of the plaza, letting his thoughts wander. When was Beatty and her group going to come back anyway? He didn't want to play hide-and-seek with that dagger-happy brat again, and unfortunately he was beginning to grow used to the town of Werites Beacon. The noisy citizens had made his ears used to loud noises, and he was even getting used to the many shades and varieties of clothing here, instead of the traditional blues, aquas and white of his people.

He hummed a familiar tune as he thought about the Village he visited again, and berating himself for his lousy escape that resulted in a girl spotting him. Eventually, the humming turned into him softly singing to himself, his crisp tone different than the original laid-back one of the four-piece choir. "As we live a life of ease, every one of us has all we need… Sky of blue and sea of green, in our yellow submarine…"

The citizens who gossiped the latest news among their friends were startled out of their conversations by an angered and frustrated scream on the other side of the plaza. Something about annoying songs…

x x x

Norma trotted along the road from the item shop, her bag full of gald from selling her spoils of war from the Great Hollow. Though even the comforting feeling of a heavy wallet wasn't enough to wipe the grin off of her face from the good deed they had all performed that day. The parents of the baby were saved, and all was well. He had been a cute little bugger too, and she had gotten to tease Senny and Shirl nonstop about their baby. It was funny how flustered the two were too!

And with her new-found wealth, she would be able to feast tonight! Hell, she could even pay off a bit of her tab with the innkeeper. She first went off to the bakery to snag some fruit for later, then to the inn to get a huge meal. What surprised her was a familiar face sitting near the entrance to the inn... Or at least, the familiar shock of platinum-blond hair that stood out from everyone else in the room.

"Wally, hey!" She loudly called from across the restaurant, startling said person and most of the others inside the building. The blond dropped his fork in shock at the booming greeting and the other patrons of the restaurant turned to stare at the bubbly girl in yellow. The pianist on stage playing a chipper upbeat tune with an accompanying saxophone player nearby continued playing, but raised an eyebrow at the girl. Walter knitted his eyebrows together and rubbed his forehead with a groan of embarrassment, even when the other people in the room turned back to their own conversations. She plopped down in the seat across from him and grinned, "Funny seeing you here, I was just coming here myself."

He gestured to the half-eaten plate of spaghetti in front of him, obviously over-laden with numerous spices after it had arrived on the table. "I was hungry and wanted something other than fruit, is that a crime?" He peered at her grin and felt on guard. "…What's with the grin. You look like you've just gotten away with murder."

Norma didn't notice the slip as she happily called over a waiter, "I scored tons of loot at the Great Hollow. I mean tons; there was a super rare monster that dropped tons of stuff and I got a lot of it because the others weren't interested in it. It turned out it was really valuable, and I got tons of money off of it!" The waiter came by and she ordered, "One seafood bread bowl and a fizzy P&P!"

She seemed more cheerful than usual, so it meant whatever she had sold had been very valuable. He twirled his fork in the pasta as he asked, "What exactly did you sell, out of curiosity?"

She thought to herself, "Well… I think it was a horn; it kinda looked like the horn we got from the grand gaet before we rescued Shirl." Walter nearly choked at the mention of a grand gaet. Dragons were one thing he knew Senel's group could take on, but a gaet, let alone a grand gaet? Those creatures were legendary! "Whatever it was, it sold for 5,000! I can feast tonight!" Her bread bowl was set in front of her, and she started in on it, forgetting to blow on the food.

As she blew on her food, the Ferines in front of her did the math in his head. "…Couldn't you pay off the rest of your debt with the innkeeper with that money?"

Norma sheepishly grinned to herself, "Eh he he he… Not really."

Walter raised an eyebrow as he drank from his glass of water, "Exactly how much do you owe?"

She paused and counted her fingers as her lips moved silently to the math in her head. She finished and said, "15,000 gald."

This time, Walter had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from spitting his drink out in shock. He coughed, and gasped, "F-fifteen thousand?" She nodded, and the blue eyes (well, the one in view anyway) blinked in shock. He put a hand to his head, a headache threatening to begin at the mere thought of owing that much. "…That's a lot of money." He replied simply.

She shrugged, "I've been here a while. I can't pay it all off in one day; I'd have no money to eat, or buy gels with." She slurped down more of the hearty soup in the sourdough loaf in her bowl.

"Fifteen thousand…" He repeated, still in shock.

"Yep."

"How long have you been on the Legacy?" He asked, suddenly curious if she had been there longer than when they first met in the Underground Tunnel.

"How long have you?" Norma countered, curious herself about his history.

As she thought what would happen, the blond immediately clammed up and frowned, "Why do you need to know something like that?"

She ate some more of her soup before answering, "Well, while we're on the subject of our past histories here, I'm curious about yours too. You tell me, I'll tell you. Deal?"

He scowled, but Norma wondered how curious he was, and hoped she won the deal. A few moments passed before he gave an aggravated sigh and responded, "Fine, deal. Now talk."

"How do I know you won't just keep it from me once I tell you?" She lowered her eyelashes at him and gave him a mischievous grin.

"Are you accusing me of lying?" Walter's tone was dangerously low. Apparently, that was a touchy subject with him; make sure to avoid that in later conversations…

"N-not at all, I just don't know you well enough to say whether or not you will or won't tell." She countered, put off guard by the icy expression in his eyes.

He let the answer simmer between them, while thinking it over. She had a fair point... He deemed it satisfactory and responded, "Three years."

She genuinely seemed surprised when he answered, but shook it off, "Three years? Well you beat my record. I was on the Legacy for a total of two months before the whole shebang with Shirl and everyone happened."

"If you've been on the Legacy for around seven months, why didn't you just stay with one of your friends?"

Norma sat back from her bowl, which was now empty, as was his plate of pasta. "Well, Senny just now has his own house, but it can only really fit one person. Shirl's staying with Granny Musette; JJ's with the Oresoren and as large as their house is, the village is too far away from here. Red's staying with his bandit buddies and I really don't fit in there; C's staying at the hospital's extra room so I can't bunk there either. G-Girl's taking up the only spare bedroom Teach has, and Hattie's in the other one… The inn's the only real place I can stay." She finished finally.

The Ferines gave her a blank look, "…I have no idea who those names are supposed to stand for save Senel, the Meri… Shirley and Red…"

She sighed, and told them their real names, "Chloe's C, Will is Teach, Red's Moses, Jay is JJ and Grune is G-Girl… And Hattie's Harriett, but you've never met her or Madam Musette."

He shook his head, "That's confusing… Though now I at least know what their real names are."

The two paid their bill and began to walk upstairs when the Ferines suddenly tripped on the last step up the stairs to their room. He barely caught himself with one arm, but in return for avoiding a faceplant in the floor he gouged his shin on the sharp stair edge. Now, a few minutes later, he was still cursing in pain as his pant leg was rolled up to reveal the pale skin that was already forming a nasty bruise. "No, I was not being clumsy! I just blanked out and missed the last step."

"Still say you're clumsy or sleepy. That, or those dizzy spells of yours are getting worse."

He rolled down the cloth and laid back on the bed, cloak and shoes by the door and scratching the place where the dragon scratch once was. Now it was nothing more than a faint pink mark, though it wasn't like it wouldn't heal. Even if it did become a scar, he's had worse. "Unfortunately, you're probably right about that…" He replied, resting his eyes.

"The dizzy spells or you being clumsy?" Norma asked, grinning from ear to ear at her sarcasm, which earned her a withering glare from the blond. "Well, we'll fix that later. So, anything new happen while I was gone? You were bored stiff-less without me, weren't you?" Norma grinned before reaching for her notebook and looking up something in her Relares notes.

He thought about the twin sister and responded, "…I think I might have a clue to what I'm looking for…"

"Really? A clue to what?"

"None of your business."

"Aw, you're no fun, Wally!" Norma pouted, plopping down on her bed and flattening the comforter that was on it. "Ok, enough of the silent treatment already; what's the clue?"

He sat up and looked out the window at the lit streetlamps and replied, "A Ferines girl… Someone from the village."

"You went to the Village of the Ferines? Gutsy; you could've been seen by someone." She commented, a curious smile on her face.

The Ferines laying on his bed furrowed his brows sheepishly, if only she knew… From the girl's expression and the way she had run away from him, the story she had told was sure to send the village into a small panic, or at least unnerve them enough to increase the security. At worst, they'll tell Will about it, and he'll be in even more danger of being discovered than he already was. "I wasn't seen by anyone. Even if I was, I could have gotten away easily; I know that place like the back of my hand."

She gave him a smug look, "Does this have anything to do with late-night patrols of the place?" By the deadpan eyes that were pointed in her direction, she guessed she had hit that one on the nail.

After a few moments of him frowning, he looked up at the ceiling and nearly pouted, a bit of color flooding his cheeks. "…Shut up…"

"Wow, you really do that. Man, and I was just joking at first! You take your job waaay too seriously, Wally." Norma laughed, staring out the window at the dark shapes blotting out the stars in the sky. It looked like the good weather was going to end soon, making way for a cloudy and rainy week… Or at least, not sunny anymore.

Walter closed his eyes at her comment and tried not to react. It was a bit of a low blow, even if she hadn't meant it like that… "I have to... Had to. I had to protect the Merines, or someone similar to Vaclav would have come along and taken her for their own greedy agendas, especially for the use of the Nerifes Cannon. It happened at the Alter of the Sea with the kingdom of Gadoria, and there's no doubt in my mind it won't happen again." He replied quietly, a tension filling the air at his words.

And there went her chance of lightening up the mood. Just remind the guy about when Shirl went into Merines-Mode along with Fen Fen dying, and he withdrew from the conversation and turned cold again. She couldn't blame him though, if someone had killed her Teacher then she'd be filled with the thought of revenge and rage too. But, nowadays it looked like it just made him depressed; old Wally would have smacked you around for an insult or a reminder like that.

She peered over at him, and noticed the lines under his eyes were growing more noticeable. He had been tired for a while now, though part of that may have been because of her waking him early that morning with her falling out of bed. If his subdued behavior had anything to do with it, then he had been suffering from more dizzy spells than he let on. "Hey Wally?"

"What is it?"

"…Do you still wish that Shirl had gone through with it? That the Cataclysm would have happened? That it flooded the world and killed all of us Orerines?" Norma asked hesitantly, careful but curious. It was something else she had wondered about. Did he hate them so much now? Sure, he wasn't as antagonistic to her as he was with others, and he seemed like a better person than the one she knew from two months ago... But had his views changed? The ones that were so infused into his past and personality that they practically made him into the harsh person he was.

The question came out of left field for the blond. So much so, that he truly didn't know the answer himself… "Of course the Merines should have made the Cataclysm happen! The Orerines deserved to die!" A bitter voice spoke in his mind, an angry and harsh voice that sounded like his own. "They were the ones responsible for destroying your people for thousands of years… They killed all you held dear, took the Merines and her sister and made them the source of power for a horrific weapon. They killed her sister, killed Fenimore and never once stopped with their prejudice and greedy ways, and…"

And what?

They had done horrible things, yes, but he also saw something else entirely that had escaped him before. Many people were like that, yes... but the good in others had shown through the bad moments most of the time. The positive outweighed the negative. Thoughts flickered, and images in his head appeared before him. The soldiers from the Holy Rexalian Empire against the Crusand armies of Vaclav, the otherwise ordinary citizens of Werites Beacon, the various gossiping women at the fountain plaza… A cheerful café filled with the aroma of baked bread, musicians and singers, loving couples, adventurers seeking adventure and thrills… A kid asking for nothing but a name and an person to idolize, a mildly-friendly conversation between two bickering friends, a mischievous life-loving grin…

The Ferines opened his eyes and the images faded from his thoughts as he mulled over his answer... And it startled him.

He looked over at the girl in the opposite bed, who had eventually given up on him answering and crawled into her covers, falling asleep soon after her head hit the soft pillow. The beams of light that would normally color her hair from her position in the bed were absent this time, leaving only a dulled yellow hue from the window to cast odd shadows across her bed. She shifted, hair falling out of her face as she rolled over, face peaceful as she romped through dreamland…

Walter gazed over at her for a few moments before leaning back against his pillow with a world-weary sigh. He stared at the ceiling for a long time while thinking over his new revelation. With a tremulous voice so soft it was inaudible to all but himself, he answered Norma's question.

x x x

AN 1: I know that 5,000g doesn't seem like much (I mean, you get around 2,000 beginning in the game, right?), but I'm dividing the gald system so the prices are more reasonable and that the group isn't filthy rich. So, prices are normal but the gold they have has one less zero on the end. 5,000 = 500. Also, the inn normally costs 100g to stay in, but I upped it to 150g in the story.

AN 2: The time passed in canon was 4 months: two months after Vaclav and two more after the Main Quest ended. This along with about half a month in between then and now. I'm guessing she's been on the Legacy longer than that, so I put in another two months. So seven months. She hasn't paid her debt much with the innkeeper, but I'm betting she paid him a little bit. So, half of her debt price is around 15,000g (ick…).

AN 3: Do the cast of Tales of Legendia besides the main characters who rode in Poppo's (sadly not-yellow) sub even know what a submarine is?

REVIEWER CORNER

Shiroi Iyasu - Sounds like a very evil chuckle... I honestly thought it would have been full-out adventure, but didn't stop to think that it would have appeared so much as a slice of life fic... ...Speaking of which, why doesn't the site have a slice of life genre?

Anisatin - Why thank you! I aim to please~