A/N: D8 Visiting relatives again... Wonder how much writing I can get done o3o This chapter... to be honest... wasn't very well planned out. Good luck to me with making this flow 8D;;

Disclaimer: Don't own anything other than an AWTBCD (Advanced Writing Technology of Buttons and Clicky Devices). o3o

Obituary 3: The Light and the Carefree

"I... I will never... Never... never forgive them..."

"You mean... No matter what we did... No matter how hard we struggled... It was all in vain?"

"I don't blame you... It was their fault."

"... ..."

"How dare you do this to us... I wish we had never-"

"Don't say it, you don't mean it. And you surely don't need... all of us?"

"We know what we're doing. Do not doubt us."

"Today really was a nice day, wasn't it?" Lire smiled, pushing open the door to the house she shared with Ryan. The druid nodded, carrying in several bags after Lire.

"I didn't think I'd ever end up admitting this, but you were right, Lire. Eryuelle Island really is beautiful... Maybe even more so than the Elven Forest. Just maybe!" He added the latter part at her victorious expression, sighing as she laughed.

"It's where I grew up, Ryan! I wouldn't have argued with you over moving back here if it wouldn't be a good place to raise a child." She rested a hand on her stomach with a blush, picking up one of the bags Ryan had deposited near the door.

"Still," Ryan muttered, "The elves here seem a bit.. unfriendly." He offered nervously, "some times I still think we should go back to the Elven Forest." Lire bit her lip, focusing on the groceries as she began putting them away.

"I will admit the elves here have been a bit inhospitable, but that's only because of the Elven slaughter during Kaze'Aze's rule. It all started when a stranger came to the island, and they lost a lot of their population and many of their houses. I know they're being a bit rough, but Eryuelle Island is only doing what it thinks it needs to to save itself from destruction again."

"Elven Forest was hit by that slaughter too, though..." He murmured, "It was nothing like this. If anything, they accepted outsiders and people who supported Elves even more." Lire nodded, smiling as Ryan began helping with the other bags of food.

"Don't worry, they'll warm up to you soon." She assured him. The orange haired Elf nodded uncertainly.

"We've already given them almost two years, but I trust your judgement, Lire. And if it is possible, I agree that this would be an ideal place to raise our child." Kissing her on the cheek after he finished with the last of the foods, Ryan shivered.

"I sort of miss the castle too, it was a lot warmer than this... One thing elves really need to work on is heating. I'm going to start a fire, all right?" Lire nodded absentmindedly, turning to the nearby bed to burrow under the covers.

"This is terrible... I'm even getting exhausted from taking walks like that, now." Ryan laughed as he walked to the door.

"Well, that could be because our child is due in less than a month." He reminded her, stepping outside. The logs were all piled up at the side of their small house, easily and conveniently placed for Ryan to grab a few logs from the top. The fireplace was the only part of the wall in their house that wasn't made of wood, for obvious reasons. It still had char in it from the last time he had lit a fire, but instead of cleaning out the ashes he placed the logs on top. The matches were left on the mantle for easy access: He grabbed one and started the fire before putting the small packet back. When he had done so he closed the screen before pressing his hands together, closing his eyes.

"Thank you, Gaia." He murmured before standing up and walking over to the bed.

"I don't know how you remember to pray to Gaia every time you light a fire." Lire muttered sleepily, cuddling up against the druid as he joined her on the bed.

"It's important. I raised myself in the forest, and without Gaia's protection I don't think I would have been able to do that." Lire nodded against his shoulder, half asleep.

.

"I'm glad we were able to meet her along our journey, though. It was nice to be able to finally thank her for all that she's done." Lire tightened her grip on the orange haired elf.

"And she was really pretty..."

"Not prettier than you." He amended quickly, kissing her forehead. He normally would have joked a bit more about Gaia, but he remembered almost instantly the letter he had gotten from Ronan after sending him one about Lire's and his coupling, and Lire's being pregnant. Pregnant women have mood swings, Ryan. They are very touchy, and can get self conscious very easily. Lire's an elf so I don't know if it'll be like that, but nonetheless, don't do anything that would offend her. Ryan had been pretty much living by these rules since he had received the letter, and so far it seemed to be doing a fair job of keeping him alive and Lire happy.

"And I've missed a lot of training lately. I'm gonna have a lot of practice to do later."

"Later." Ryan agreed, playing with her long locks, "For now just let me wait on my queen."

"Ryan!" She exclaimed, pressing her face against his shoulder more tightly.

"Yes?" He smirked. Teasing her was something he still enjoyed doing, if he could get away with it.

"I'm not a queen..." She protested, a pleased smile crossing her face despite her words. Ryan could feel this, and he laughed quietly.

"Of course you are! You're my queen. So, dear lady, would you be the Gaia to my Perseo?" Her smile had grown, and she lightly let go of him to get a look of his face.

"Always." They pressed their foreheads together lightly, and the sound of the crackling fire filled the room. They lay like that for almost an hour, and Ryan had nearly fallen asleep when the sound of chirping birds reached his ears. So loudly? Over the sound of a fire? Lire had already fallen asleep: He let her go carefully before sitting up with a groan. The sound of the birds attracted his attention, and as he located the sound he realized why. Before sleeping he had apparently forgot to shut the window: there were several of the winged animals on the windowsill. The fire had died, adding to their volume as well.

"Nhhh..." Lire sounded like she was stirring, and Ryan quickly stood up to rush over to the window.

"Come on, guys. Your queen is sleeping." At this comment Ryan stifled a laugh, and began waving the birds off the windowsill. To his surprise they didn't leave: One jumped onto his shoulder, and a few of the others flew to his head and shoulders to continue their urgent chirping. Ryan's face fell to a contemplative frown, and he fell silent as he began listening. These birds are way too frantic and panicked... Ryan knew much better than to ignore nature's focused it was much easier to hear the sounds from outside, and he began listening for unusual noises.

What's making you guys freak out? His ears twitched gently: in their sensitivity, the chirps were making it harder to hear. A branch snapping... that could be anything. The river... Nothing's unusual there. There's... the sound of a panicked deer? Feeling a wave of paranoia wash over him, Ryan took a step away from the window, pressing his back against the wall to continue listening.

The wind... Rustling leaves... There. A footstep. Ryan felt his blood run cold as he heard several other footsteps following the first, and the birds all flew off him as he rushed over to the bed to shake Lire. Sorry about this, Lire, but I've learned to never mistrust my instinct.

"R... Ryan? What is it?" Picking her up, Ryan set her on her feet.

"There's someone outside. Never mind that. Someones." He replied, throwing her coat to her. Lire blinked as she caught it, rubbing her eyes with her free hand.

"I'm not quite..."

"Please just trust me. I don't know why, but I really feel like we're in-" Before he could finish his sentence something penetrated the flesh of his arm, and he let out a scream of pain.

"Ryan!" Lire gasped, reaching out for him. The druid pushed her away, wincing as he pulled an arrow out.

"We have to get out of here now!" He grabbed his storm blades from the wall instantly, attaching them at the hilts before grabbing Lire's arm. She had barely enough time to snatch her composite bow and quiver from the wall before they burst outside, and as soon as they did Ryan let out a curse. They had been entirely surrounded by archers: All with their bows pointed at the little hut Lire and Ryan called home. Most had pointed their bows to the pair of Elves by that time, and Ryan burst into a run before they could fire.

"They're getting away!" Was the predominant scream going through the air, and it almost muted out the sounds coming from the xenocider and nova.

"Damn them... Damn all their souls to the Crucible!" He hissed angrily, curving their path as the arrows began flying.

"What... What are they doing? Ryan, we need to stop! We need to figure out what's going on!" Lire begged desperately.

"If we stop, we're going to die!" He snapped, pulling her closer.

"We're going to go air born, all right?" Lire shook her head furiously.

"There's less to hide in in the sky... We'd make an easier target." Ryan gritted his teeth, forcing himself to keep his eyes aimed forward.

"Great... hold on tight." A sharp, vibrant light exploded from Ryan, and a wolf was almost instantly standing in his place. Lire turned her head only to see several elves following them closely, and she tightened her grip on his dark orange fur.

"Why... I don't understand why they're doing this!" She moaned, pulling out her own bow. Her aim was much more precise than that of the archers following the pair, and she managed to shoot out several of their legs.

"Where are we going?" She asked, trying to spot the other elves as arrows came at them from behind.

"We're getting off this Island, and heading into Bermesiah! From there we'll head to the Elven Forest, and then we'll send a letter to the Knight Master to get all of this sorted out." Lire nodded shakily, aiming and deflecting another arrow that had made its way slightly too close for comfort.

"Are you all right?" The question caught her off guard. She paused for a moment, then shook her head.

"No... I don't think so. I can't be, when this is happening." She whispered, holding her bow tightly.

"Don't worry... We'll get things cleared up. Maybe it's like what happened to most of Ellia when Kaze'Aze took ov-" This was cut off by a loud scream from Ryan, and the wolf collapsed.

"Ryan! Ryan!" It didn't take long to determine the source of his pain: an arrow had made it directly into the back of his knee cap. The transformation was ending: soon enough he was back to being an Elf.

"I'm sorry!" She said, pulling the arrow out rapidly, "But we have no time to stop!" More arrows were raining down, several slicing through her flesh as she pulled Ryan to his feet and began running again. Her hand rested on her stomach, and she winced.

"Lire! Lire, stop running!" She turned around to stare at the druid in confusion, only to have him bowl her over in a hug.

"What are you doing? Stop it, we need to get moving!" She said forcefully, trying to push him off her. The xenocider didn't move, and Lire stopped pushing when she heard the sickening slicing of arrows penetrating flesh.

"You can't... run right now, Lire..." coughing as several more arrows were embedded in his back, he kissed her gently.

"They hated me, anyway... You were born here, they tr- Trust you. If I leave things like this, you should be able to work things out with them. Ther- There's no... way... we could have both made it... out of... here together." His emerald eyes were losing focus, and the sound of footsteps approaching them was getting steadily louder.

"Ryan... Why..."

"Good night, my quee-" His eyes widened, and Lire shook under the weight as he completely collapsed on her. An arrow had lodged itself directly in the back of his head, and the Elven girl stared at it silently for a moment before trying to pull it out.

"Come on, Ryan..." She sniffled, "Come on..." A hand slapped her own away from the arrow, and she looked up to see the leader of the elven corps hovering over her.

"Lire... I see we meet again." The girl held Ryan closer to her, as though preventing the archers that were surrounding her from taking him.

"How... Why did you do this?" She cried angrily, eyes beginning to brim with tears.

"Because he was an intruder... Who knows what he was planning? And more importantly..." kneeling down, the leader looked at her directly in the eye, "he stole our Nova." Lire gritted her teeth.

"You killed him because I'm a Nova?" She accused quietly, holding a hand to Ryan's stained locks. One of the others nodded, and the Elven Leader continued.

"Did you truly understand the requirements of a Nova when you took on the job, Lire? Nova are pure archers, fighters of the goddess of light, who protect their people at any cost. You left us, Lire. You left us to fight the Ascendant God... We could understand that. He might have eventually returned to Eryuelle, like Kaze'Aze did. Then... Then you returned with this... this outsider." Malice laced his words.

"This outsider took all your time... you didn't even live inside the village any more. You built a home on the outskirts of the island, and then you got pregnant. With his child. That was as far as we could let you go." Lire's hand instinctively flew to her stomach, and her eyes began flitting around as she looked over all of the archers in the area.

"What are you going to do, then?" She whispered, closing her eyes, "Do you want me to come back to the village? Because even if you do... I'm never going back there." The leader scoffed.

"It's nearly nine months too late for that, Lire. We gave up on getting you back the moment you conceived. Now, we're just here to tell you that we really didn't want it to turn out this way. We didn't want to, Lire, but you forced our hand. Now, I just hope you realize that the only one to blame for all of this is yourself. Well, I suppose some blame could go to our village for letting our Nova get so out of hand, so... Here." Standing up, he kicked Ryan harshly in the side, rolling him off Lire. Drawing his bow, an insane smirk drew across his face.

"We're going to erase our mistake." With this he released the string, the arrow flying straight into Lire's stomach. She began shaking, and her hands wrapped around her stomach as she hunched over.

"No... No... No!" She screamed, letting out an anguished cry.

"NO! NO! RYAN! MY BABY! HOW DARE YOU! GIVE THEM BACK!" The loss of her child and her couple had fallen on her all at once, and in that instant Lire snapped. Her composite bow was snatched up off the ground, and she let off the pre-notched arrow directly into the skull of the Elven Corps leader. He fell backwards with a choked, startled gasp, and the other archers began fumbling for their bows. They'll pay. They'll all pay.Arrows were beginning to fly, but Lire aimed quickly, and more accurately. The forest floor was littered with Elves before enough arrows had been lodged into her to stop her rampage, and she slumped over.

I'm sorry, Ryan. I couldn't protect our child... Her tears began falling, and she closed her eyes as several more arrows were added to her. Pressing a hand to her stomach, she let out a shaky breath. I'm sorry to you, too. Maybe in another place, at another time, this wouldn't have happened. Maybe some other time, we could have been- Her thoughts began dying out, and she forced all of her last effort into placing her hand on Ryan's before the last of her consciousness let go.

A/N: Ohwow. It's a bit longer than Jin and Amy's chapter D8 Seeing as this thing took a few hours, maximum... Oh well o3o;; This didn't all turn out according to plan, but thanks for reading~! I'm starting to get sick, so I don't know how much I'll be able to write... I'm gonna finish this though, no worries :3 In fact, if it's a certain illness I'm worried about, I get a week off Dx

Oh! Coupling is the equivalent of marriage in this :3

-Utsuro