A/N: Sorry for the long wait, hunnies! Now I've finally introduced the last of my OC's. You won't find any more OC's that further the plot significantly after this guy. By the way, I've decided that all spells are going to be in bold from now on. And Kratos is kinda boring to write- I like Genis so much better. And it's not that Yuan sucks at swordsmanship, it's just Kratos is just insanely good and Genis is observant.
Enjoy.
ANTIGONE. Whose was the deed/Death and the spirits of the dead can tell/A friend in words is not a friend for me.
When Raine landed in Asgard two days later, she took a moment to stand at the gates, letting the never ending wind rush by her face, twirling and dancing with her shoulder length hair. She closed her eyes, bowing her head and taking a deep breath of the ancient city before Mesha broke into her thoughts.
"Wow, this place is beautiful."
Raine smiled at that and opened her eyes again, looking down at Mesha. "Better than Meltokio?" she asked.
"Oh yeah," Mesha said, nodding. "Loads better."
"So, ladies," Harley broke in, standing between them with an arm on each of their shoulders, "Where to first? Me, I'm gonna head over to Linar's place to see if he's done tinkering with my secret weapon yet."
"Your what?" Mesha looked up, blinking at him.
"If I told you it wouldn't be secret anymore. Shhh…" He lifted his hand from Raine's shoulder to press a finger against his mouth, glancing around him to watch for spies. Tweaking Mesha's ear one last time, he wandered down the dirt roads to the housing area. Mesha angrily rubbed at her ear, glaring after him.
"I hate it when he treats me like I'm his kid sister or something," she sighed.
"Don't tell me that," Raine said, "Tell him. But for now we have to restock our inventory. After those Night Raids surprised us yesterday, we're going to need a few more orange gels."
"Yeah…" Mesha agreed, still looking down. After a moment she shook her head and smiled up at Raine, changing the subject. "Why don't we split up and I get the foodstuffs and you get all the items we need?"
Raine nodded. Giving Mesha some of her Gald before they headed off towards the different shops, she smiled down at her newest student. But even so, the Professor felt something akin to relief when she lost Mesha in the crowd, feeling as though he could let her guard down for a little while. She smiled softly, hearing the familiar jingle of bells as she pushed open the shop door.
This place could almost be home, she thought, paying for her items and heading down to the caves. She must have been to these places hundreds of times before, but every time she came to Asgard she could never resist the temptation. This time was no different- she decided to sidetrack and try to tell herself that the caves wouldn't have changed since the last time she visited.
Walking into the weapons shop, she perused over their selection of spears and staves and… shovels?
Growing curious, Raine picked it up by its six-foot-long wooden handle, holding it with both her hands and shifting into a fighting stance. No, not a shovel. The broad flat steel blade at the end did give it a spade-like appearance, though. On the other end of the staff, instead of a blunt end coated in steel, a thin crescent moon blade was attached. She looked from this new, eccentric weapon to her old, shoddy staff with its unicorn horn lashed on by fraying ropes and had to work to fight off a sudden bout of greed. But then Raine took one look at the price and promptly put the staff back where she had found it, walking out of the store and towards the caves again. To her joy, a recent earthquake had opened up the entrances to some new caves that were currently being excavated. Practically quivering with scholarly pursuit, she ignored signs that warned civilians to stay out and started up a small spell to light her way.
Raine gasped as her light spilled onto a wall covered in paintings, her eyes lighting up as she rushed to the wall and put a hand on it. "Balacruf," she whispered to herself, feeling as though she might burst into an orange cloud of ruin-overloaded Raine Dust. She had landed in a virtual oasis of Balacruf information while in the Desert of Ignorance!
Though she tried her best to be silent, when her glowing eyes hungrily scanned over hieroglyphs depicting the whereabouts of the tomb of the third emperor of the Xin bloodline, she couldn't help but let a soft, yet diabolical, laugh escape from her lips.
"Bwah hah hah hah…."
She was so engrossed with the paintings- crouching down on the floor with her face pressed up against the wall to better examine them- she didn't notice when soft footsteps began to echo in the normally quiet cavern passages.
"Excuse me," a deep, male voice said from behind her, sighing loudly.
"…but if I could do an analysis on some paint chippings I could see when…" Raine mumbled out loud before breaking off and continuing her thought process silently, reaching into her bag for a small chisel and hammer.
"Excuse me," the voice said, louder this time. "This area is off-limits. It's structurally unsound and if you go around meddling with-"
"Shut up," Raine said, turning around with narrowed eyes. "Can't you see I'm busy? And don't give me your insipid lies- there's nothing wrong with this cave and you are obviously hiding something. All I want to do is look at these paintings but if you continue to annoy me I might just start to try and uncover what you're really up to here and then reveal the knowledge to the public."
She paused for breath.
"Besides… you can't take me from here if you tried."
Raine turned around again, smoothing her silver hair back from her face. The man stood with his arms crossed, glaring at her in the semidarkness. His lower face was covered by a bright red bandanna, giving him the appearance of an old-school bandit. "Now, where was I…?" she began to hum cheerfully to herself, seemingly oblivious as the stranger walked back a few feet to grab at a pickaxe lying in a broken wheelbarrow.
Testing it, he swung it in the air a few times before returning to Raine, smiling thinly. Hefting the tool up high, he brought it down on the square of rock next to where Raine was kneeling. Sparks flew, causing Raine's hands to twitch to avoid them. Leaning on the pole to the pickaxe, the man bent down to talk into her ear. She seemed frozen in place, her hands hovering uncertainly over her dropped tools.
"I think you should leave," he said.
Slowly, she turned her head away from him, her bangs hiding her faintly glowing eyes from view. "Was that a threat just now, or did I hear the Asgard winds blowing through the tunnels?"
"It was a suggestion," he said, lifting the pickaxe up again. "This cave is structurally unsound. If some rocks fall and bash your head in, I can't be held responsible."
Raine sighed, loudly. "So that's the way this is going to be." Slowly, she put her staff down and then rolled it far away, out of reach. In the dim light the staff still provided she could see his bandana crinkle around his mouth as he smiled, lowering the pickaxe and stepping away.
She'd show him there was nothing to smile about.
"Hyah!" Raine threw her hand out, a dozen needles flying from their concealed place inside her sleeves to fly at the man.
He cursed, hopping back and swiping them from the air with one sweep of his pickaxe. Raine took the opportunity to leap to her feet, following her trail of needles and leaping high over the pickaxe's range, landing down with both her feet planted squarely in the man's face. She waited until she felt the satisfying crunch of cartilage under her boots before pushing off and somersaulting over his head, landing not-quite gracefully on all fours before scrambling up to her feet and running away.
Raine heard the man's curses floating behind her and grinned, sprinting for the exit.
"Get back here! Wind Whip!"
Raine bit her lip as a sudden, cold cord wrapped around her ankle, sending her sprawling onto the cavern floor, cracking her head against a jutting rock. Shaking, she got up on her knees, placing a glowing hand over her freely bleeding forehead but to no avail.
"Heal…" she said, feeling the warm glow, but her body refused to cooperate. The skin remained broken and the blood flowed, not clotting and plugging up like it was supposed to. Startled, she made a small, angry noise as she realized the icy chain was still tied to her ankle and had begun to reel her back, catching her off balance and sending her to the floor again with one sudden jerk. The rope began to tug on her ankle and Raine found herself being dragged back into the caverns by her foot, her nails scrabbling for purchase on the unforgiving stone floor. "Photon!" she said, turning and slicing her hand through the whip.
The shining, mana-filled wind flickered once and died before surging forward again, splitting into five different cords to wrap around her arms, legs, and throat. Lifting her up into the air, kicking and punching, the whips brought her back to the man. He had her staff held loosely in his right hand while controlling the whip with his left, easily managing all five ends of the magic spell. The shining light of the unicorn horn illuminated his face- the beginnings of laugh-lines around his eyes and streaks of stark white running through hair that was once solid black.
"Raine?" he asked, pulling off his bandana to grin at her, wiping the blood from his face. "You're Raine Sage, the heroine of the two worlds?" With a small laugh, he tossed the staff into the air, catching it before it fell and peering at the Unicorn Horn. "You look like a common little pickpocket to me."
"Yes," Raine said, stopping her struggled to glare at him. "I am Raine Sage. And I don't need the Unicorn Horn to cast spells, you fool. Photon!" A sphere of pure light energy shot forward, slamming into the man's abdomen and knocking him back against the cave walls. His concentration broken, the spell dissipated and Raine fell, landing on her feet and snatching her staff out of the air before it clattered to the floor.
A low groan came from the floor. Raine turned her eyes, coolly uncaring, towards the man bleeding at her feet, and nudged him with the end of her staff. "Who are you?" she asked him, letting the tip of her staff begin to glow with the beginnings of another Photon attack.
The man turned his head away, a thin trickle of blood making its way down the side of his face. He pulled off his bandana, pinching his nose and wiping at the blood. "You know who I am," he said. "You just forgot me."
"I think I would know if I had met you before," Raine said, dryly.
"You'd think that, wouldn't you?"
Then, quicker than she could imagine, he reached out and grabbed at her staff, yanking hard enough to send her toppling over on top of him. Quickly grabbing both of her dainty wrists with one hand and wrapping his legs around her waist to keep her from escaping, he knocked the staff back out of her hand and pressed his free fingers against her forehead.
"Seal Break," he said, "Level two. Restore all memory regarding person(s) Alexander Sage."
Raine felt it- heard it at first. It was a brief click, like a latch being undone before the dam breaks and sends the knowledge flooding through her brain, swamping her systems. She would have collapsed, twitching, onto the floor if Alex hadn't been there to hold her steady as she slowly began to process information at a normal rate and her senses returning to normal. Slowly, she felt her eyes begin to adjust and refocus on the long, dark face in front of her. She blinked a few times, coughing once or twice as she pushed herself up to look him in the eyes.
"…Alex?" she said, gingerly placing a hand against his cheek before lifting it back and slapping him with all her might.
"Gack!" he winced, craning his head away as she glared at him.
"That's for breaking my vase when we were camping in Hima!" she hissed, slapping him again.
"Raine, I-"
She slapped him once more. "Don't you even dare! Don't you dare, Alex! And this-" the sound of the smack resounded through the caves, "Is for trying to kill me! Again!"
"Are you-" he started, before she grabbed a handful of his hair and knocked his head back against the cave wall.
"And that's for bringing my memory back when I didn't want it returned!"
He let his head rest against the cool stone for a few moments before he dared to speak again. "…Are you done?"
Raine lifted her hand a few fractions of an inch before letting it drop to her side with a long-suffering sigh. "…Yes. I suppose you want me to heal you now?" she took him in, with his broken nose, bleeding forehead and cheeks red from the abuse she had just put him through.
"Please," he said.
She gritted her teeth, putting her palm to his forehead. "First Aid," she said, watching the warm healing light surround his head like the pictures of the saints.
"Just a first aid spell?" he said. "That's all? You know you got me pretty good with that light spell ear- ow!"
She had smacked him again. "You want a stronger healing spell? Fine! Heal!"
This time, the healing spell didn't slowly search for the damage and then fix it with warm light. There was a wooshing sound like wind blowing past his ears as his body was roughly and carelessly restored to normal. "Ugh, ow…" he shook the dizziness from his vision. "You didn't have to be mean, Raine."
"You tried to kill me!" she said, getting off of his lap and brushing the dirt off of her orange traveling coat with angry rough strokes. "Again!" Sighing loudly, she looked away. "Whatever. I-" she broke off as a bright light suddenly illuminated the cave. She quickly shot one hand up to cover her face and stepped back as an unfamiliar voice spoke.
"Hey! This place is off-limits to civilians!" the miner said, stepping forward. Alex shot up to his feet, throwing out one hand and uttering the command words for his spell.
"Wind Whip!"
The miner cried out as the end of the whip snapped against his hands and he dropped the flashlight. Raine kicked it to the side before ramming the butt of her staff into the man's stomach and then sweeping his feet out from under him. She glanced back at an impressed Alex, nodding her head towards the exit. He nimbly hopped over the stunned man and they raced towards the cave entrance, not stopping until they were safely hidden in the hilly residential area of Asgard.
"What was that?" he asked, peering over the side of a house in case anyone had followed them. "Did the heroic Raine Sage just attack an innocent man?"
"Hush," she sat down on the ground to get her wind back, one hand running up and down the length of her beloved Unicorn Horn to check for damage. "The people of Asgard know that I have a history of running off with important artifacts, so it wouldn't look good if I were to be caught in a place strictly off-limits."
"Right," he said, still searching for any signs of pursuit before turning to where Raine was. "But while we're here, Rainebow, why don't I ask- Raine?" He blinked as he realized the spot where she had been sitting was empty. "Raine?" He stepped forward, looking around, but all signs of the Professor had vanished.
"This is quite a surprise, Kratos," Yuan said, casually leaning against his desk as the papers still fluttered about the room. Genis sweat dropped.
"So I gathered…" He shifted his bag, presumably where he was storing his armor by the clanking sounds coming from within and the fact that he was in more casual clothing. "The teleporter in Derris-Kharlan wouldn't let me go through the Flanoir Base exit. Why?"
Yuan stood still for a moment, still feeling flustered by the sudden appearance of the seraphim. "Oh… well," he gathered his wits together and managed to answer him. "That would be because I had it leveled. I never use it, and I never intend to use it again." He bent down, snatching up reports and files from the floor. "This one in Triet suits me just fine, you know that. Why go all the way to Flanoir?"
Kratos shrugged.
"Forget that," Genis butted in, carelessly catching a sheaf of paper floating his way, "Why are you even here in Sylvarant?" He paused, knocking a hand against his head. "I mean… here?"
"I believe the most common term for the two reunited worlds is 'Symphonia,' Genis," Kratos corrected him, smiling. "Though that's a bit in conflict with what the king has to say. Officially, we are Aselia."
"You're avoiding the question. Do you have news?" Yuan slapped the huge pile of papers back onto his desk, promising himself that he would organize them properly later. "News of Kuchinawa, or-" his eyes widened suddenly and he took a few steps forward. "Are my pet projects going out of control on Derris-Kharlan? Because I implanted a few chips into their necks and all I have to do is press a button here to-"
Kratos grabbed him by the shoulder, giving him a small shake to calm him down. "Yuan, your projects are fine." Letting him go, he sighed and smoothed back his spiky auburn hair. "There's nothing wrong, you two. There's no danger, so stop overreacting."
"But…" Genis abandoned his quest to pick up any stray papers Yuan had missed. "Why are you here, then?"
Kratos averted his eyes. "I'm here to see my son."
Yuan looked at him in confusion before he grinned wickedly. "You never change," he accused the seraphim. "I knew you'd regret going to Derris-Kharlan. Eventually, Kratos," he took this opportunity to roll up another sheaf of paper and closed his eyes, smacking Kratos on the back of the head, "You're going to have to fess up and admit that I can always call your actions."
Yuan made a very unflattering noise as he found the tip of Kratos's sword tickling his right eyeball. Coughing, he tried to take a step back but found himself pressed up against his desk. "Fine," he sighed, turning his head away. "Fine. You win."
Kratos allowed himself a small smile, crossing his arms once his sword was safely at his side again. "Sorry about your cape," he said.
"My cape?" Yuan glanced down to see a previously nonexistent gash in the black fabric. "What the- when did that happen?"
"Whoa," Genis said, his eyes trained on Kratos's blade. "That was cool."
Kratos looked over his shoulder at the blue-haired half-elf, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "You saw?"
"I've been learning how to use a sword, myself," Genis said, proudly.
"Yes, well, it's certainly a tricky maneuver."
Yuan gritted his teeth, pressing his fingers up against his temples. "Am I the only one here who didn't see when he did that?"
"My friend Pandora had been giving me lessons every month. It's a little slow, but it gives me time to really get used to it," Genis said and Kratos turned to face him, thus effectively blocking Yuan out of the conversation.
"I never thought I'd see the day you gave physical combat a try," Kratos rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps we could spar one of these days? I'd like to see how you compare to Lloyd."
"He's still got a mage's mentality," Yuan spoke up, perched on the edge of his desk as he rummaged around for something.
"Any particular style?" Kratos kept on. "Do you enjoy fencing?"
"Yeah, actually. Don-Guard, she uses it a lot cause she's kinda small but really fast. But really? Swords don't really cut it for me. Er, pun unintended."
Kratos put his bag onto the floor. "Have you considered long-ranged weapons? Spears, maybe? Yuan," he turned, "Didn't your Renegades use spears? Do you have- what in the world are you doing?"
Yuan sat on the edge of his desk, his teeth nipping through a stand of black thread as he slipped it through the eye of a needle. "Damage control," he muttered, sweeping off his cape and placing it on his lap.
"Yuan…" Kratos glanced away. "Stop that. It's unsettling to see you acting..." he managed to peek back at Yuan, who was coolly matching his gaze but not slowing down his feverish pace of sewing.
"Don't give me that look. You know how to sew, too. Bachelordom demands you learn."
"You're better at that than my sister," Genis noted, his eyes wide with surprise. "Man, Yuan, I never figured that deep down you knew how to do such a girly thing."
"Coming from the book worm that bakes cookies in his spare time!" Yuan snapped, his hand furiously stitching up the gash in his cape even though his attention was focused on Genis. "Don't you have somewhere to be, shrimp?"
"OK, fine!" Genis threw his arms up into the air and slid his goggles down over his eyes. "I'm going to Meltokio. I'll see you in a week or two." Walking out of the room, he called out over his shoulder. "And Yuan? I'm taller than you!"
Bzzp! The electric doors slid shut behind him and Yuan sighed, biting off his thread and holding up his newly mended cape to inspect his handiwork. No sign of the gash was apparent- even Kratos had a hard time noticing where the tear had been, and when he did find it, it was only because he remembered where he had sliced it open. Yuan noticed this and smirked, again wrapping his cape around his thin shoulders and standing up, brushing imaginary dust from his shirt. The auburn-haired seraphim suddenly found one of the paintings hanging on the office wall fascinating- he turned his attention from his former companion and began to study the painting with one hand against his chin.
"So," Yuan said, insinuating himself up to a place beside Kratos, examining the painting as well. "Why did you really come back?"
Kratos managed to tear his eyes from the painting to look guiltily into Yuan's own aqua orbs. "I came to see my son," he said.
"Bullshit," Yuan said cheerfully. "One of these days I'll force you to admit I can always call it. Why did you really come?" he repeated, rising up one hand to grimace at the writing ink stains on his fingertips.
Kratos placed a palm against his face. "I came to see… Colette."
Yuan blinked. "Lloyd's wife?" he asked. "Why?"
"When you send the letters my son writes to me- through the teleporters?" Kratos shifted uncomfortably, reaching into his shirt pocket to pull out a folded paper. He held it out to Yuan, who took it after a moment of deliberation. "This was among the letters."
Yuan's eyes scanned over the paper, pausing briefly at one sentence in particular before slowly reading the rest. He stared blankly at the paper for a few moments before looking up at Kratos. "Are you certain? Is she certain?" he quickly corrected himself.
"That's what I came to find out."
Yuan re-read the letter. "Maybe she's just confused as to what exactly... is required for this to happen." He carefully folded the paper up into a neat little square. "There's always the possibility that she's wrong and Lloyd is -"
"Colette! Colette, there you are!"
The blond ex-Chosen of Sylvarant started like a frightened deer, scrambling to hold up her towel as Lloyd came barging into the small clearing where she had been taking a bath. "Lloyd," she accused, blushing furiously and quickly crouching down so that the lake water would cover most of her.
The red-clad swordsman, uncaring, plowed his way through the water to reach her and hold her tightly. She wriggled in his grasp, giving a small laugh. "Lloyd, you scared me. What's wrong?" she pulled back a bit, still holding her towel to her chest.
"Well I…" Lloyd pulled a sad face. "I thought you were… and the campsite was empty… and I didn't see you so… so I got worried!"
Colette shook her head, blushing again as she pulled away completely, holding her towel to hide what meager woman parts she had. "Heh… sor- I mean, I didn't mean to worry you. I just couldn't wait to get to Meltokio to take a bath. I just feel so" –she stuck out her tongue- "Icky after traveling all day!"
"Yeah, I know…" Lloyd gave her a tender, shy smile and cupped the back of her neck, running a gloved thumb along her cheek. "I just worry about you. You're fragile right now."
Colette averted her eyes, holding a hand over the faint curve on her belly. "I'm only four months along, Lloyd," she muttered half-heartedly.
He suddenly lost his smile and dropped his arm, turning away to walk back to the campsite. "Anyway," he said, his voice strange and distant, "You should at least take Zelly with you. Who knows what kinda creeps are out there."
"Lloyd, I-" she started, trying to follow him but he cut her off.
"It's OK. I'll make dinner. You get dressed."
She stood there in the shallow water, her towel hanging loosely over her arm as she watched him disappear into the foliage. "…OK," she said, softly.
"-the father," Yuan finished, handing the square of paper back to Kratos. "Last I heard they were in a House of Salvation on their way to Meltokio, so the big city's your best bet if you want to find them."
"Thank you, Yuan."
"Any time."
A/N: I'm just gonna stop trying! I never manage to tell you what the next chapter's title is going to be. FORGIVE ME. And as for the poll- you guessed it! You get to decide whether the baby is going to be a boy or a girl! Personally I'm rooting for a boy, but that's just me. Baby names are also welcome, but I am the one who will ultimately decide his/her name.
Next Chapter: In Which Sheena Explains WhaTHIGO Or At Least Attempts To Do So, But Be Assured That This Is Not The Title Of The Next Chapter But Is Merely Informing You Of What Shall Thus Transpire. Thank You.