A/N: Greetings, my friends, at 3,000 words. So here we are, I've procrastinated long enough. I got a headache writing Yuan's scene because I was pulling the same faces I imagine he would be. Which are pretty gruesome faces. Anyway. Enjoy!

Fun Fact: All my OCs have black Rheiards.

Unless I lost count, the votes go as such:

Boy: 4

Girl: 3

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A place as big as Asgard should have at least one bakery, Mesha thought as she wandered along, wishing Harley was around so he could at least help her carry some of the supplies. They were starting to get heavy, and her skinny little-girl-arms would probably soon start to shake. She cursed herself mentally, but soon forgot her troubles of being woefully short for her age when her nose led her towards the heavenly smells of bread and pastries being roasted to a slow perfection. Aha! Bread! The very last item on her list, then she could head back to the inn where the Professor had rented some rooms.

When she entered the shop, there was only one loaf of bread left so Mesha quickly moved to grab it. As she did, she bumped into another woman reaching for the same loaf. Mesha let out a girlish little squeak as she toppled over, the contents of her bag spilling onto the floor.

"Ah, Goddess! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." The woman stooped down, pushing her thin glasses up the bridge of her nose as she and Mesha tracked apple gels and wedges of cheese across the bakery floor.

"Thanks," Mesha said when they had finished. But then they looked up and found that someone had taken the last loaf of bread. "Just my luck," Mesha muttered, putting her bags down onto the floor and sighing. She turned to the woman who had just helped her. "Sorry for knocking you over."

The woman laughed. "You were the one who fell," she reminded Mesha, who flushed. The woman extended a hand, and Mesha shook it.

"I'm Mesha Zerep."

"Kate. No last name."

"No last-? But-" Mesha stopped mid-sentence as she took a moment to look at the woman- really look at her. There were things swirling in the air around her, like she had added a dye to the Asgard winds so that you could see it shifting and blowing against her green hair, unnatural just like her own. Mana, Raine called it. There was mana in the air around her. "Oh," she said softly. "You're a half-elf, too."

Not all half-elves were lucky enough to have a parent who cared for them like Mesha's father had, Mesha remembered too late. Often they wouldn't have a last name, or would make one up to fill that empty blank where their father's name should be. Whatever race he might be.

"Unfortunately." Kate looked at her wristwatch frowning. "The next batch should be coming around in half an hour." She sighed, putting a few fingers to her temple, before looking up at Mesha and smiling thinly. "Would you care to wait with me here, Mesha Zerep?"

"Oh. Uh, just 'Mesha'. And sure. Do you live here?"

Kate smiled again. "In the bakery?"

"No! I mean-"

"I know what you mean. You're just so easy to tease, forgive me."

Mesha flushed, but before she could answer a sudden whirlwind of orange and silver crashed through the open doorway, grabbing her by the shoulder. "Mesha!" Raine said, beginning to drag her out despite her surprised protests. "I've been searching everywhere for you. Come, we need to get out of here as soon as possible or we'll be caught!"

Kate took a step back, her thin green eyebrows shooting up. "Raine? Is that you?"

Raine paused, half-way out the door with a flustered Mesha in tow. She smiled, suddenly. "Oh, Kate! Hey! You look gre-" Raine stopped again, slapping her palm against her forehead. "I mean- I mean- Sorry I can't stay Kate, but I really have to leave right now. As in, right this very moment. 'Bye."

"Hold on a second…" Kate moved to block Raine's path, leaning forward to peer at her curiously. Her glasses slipped forward a bit and she paused to push them back up her nose. "You're acting odd. Are you really Raine?"

"Of course I'm Raine!" Raine snapped, thoughtlessly reaching out to push Kate's glasses up the bridge of her nose the next time they slipped. "Get a chain for those or something…" she muttered. "Anyway, I have to leave."

Kate laughed softly, putting a hand to her glasses. "You're Raine, all right. What did you steal this time, my friend?"

Raine seemed to take offense at that. "Nothing!" she said. There was a long silence between them as they had some sort of staring match. Raine eventually looked away. "Nothing!" she insisted as Mesha squirmed away from her grip to bend down and grab all the items she had bought. "I'm on the run from an angry ex."

Kate hissed in sympathy. "Well, why didn't you say so? Here," she grabbed Raine's hand and led her past the counter into the kitchen. Mesha jumped up to follow them, ignoring the rumbling in her belly as they passed rack upon rack of every baked good imaginable. Several were in the shape of famous ruins, like the Balacruf Mausoleum (which had been destroyed three years ago in the turmoil of the Regeneration Journey). Thinking fast, she grabbed one loaf of bread as they passed and left a gald piece in its place. Then she hurried to follow the older half-elves as they left through a back entrance and made their way to the housing area, where Harley was still waiting.

"What kind of ex?" Kate wanted to know as they snuck around buildings to avoid being seen. "Male or female?"

"Male. He's a human of Elvin descent." Raine helped Mesha along by holding some of the bags. "And he's the worst class of ex."

"Oh dear…" Kate looked over her shoulder at Raine. "Still In Love with you?"

"That's only the half of it."

"Suicidal?"

Raine let out a bark of laughter. "I wish."

"My Goddess, is he Homicidal?"

Mesha looked up in alarm. "Not really," Raine said, putting her fears to rest.

"Then how is he the worst kind of ex? 'Homicidal-Backslash-Still In Love' is the worst class, according to your standards."

Raine nervously held the bags closer to her chest. "There's one last one I forgot to tell you about because I… well… forgot," she said, knowing the truth was too bizarre to share now. "He's more than twenty years older than me don't give me that look, please."

"What look?"

"You're not really one in a position to judge who I sleep with. You're a lesbian, for Martel's sake. I just caught you in the middle of flirting with my student- who is off-limits to you, by the way."

"By the Goddess-"

Kate and Mesha flushed identical shades of scarlet as they looked at each other. Mesha almost slipped and sent her items scattering all across the ground. She hadn't noticed anything wrong with the way they were talking. Was it true? Or was Raine just being weird?

"Well at the very least they're always the same gender and I don't have to worry if they're homicidal, Raine!"

"I have exotic tastes in partners."

"Neurotic."

"Exotic," Raine insisted. "All right, we're here." Raine held out a hand for Mesha to halt, peering around the edge of the house they were hiding behind. She looked up at Linar's house, seeing shapes through the upper story windows. Harley and Linar would probably be upstairs doing whatever it was that Harley was so excited about, and Aisha would be downstairs. She must be cooking, if the smoke puffing out of the chimney was anything to go by. "We'll grab Harley and leave through the window."

"What?" Mesha gripped her bags tighter, wondering not for the first time what kind of person her Professor really was. The second story window seemed very high up to her.

"With the Rheiards, Mesha." Raine reached into her coat pocket and pulling out the Wing Pack. Mesha could see the flying machines nestled safely inside, ready to be summoned forth at any time.

"…Oh."

"Indeed." Raine turned to Kate, smiling thinly. "Sorry I couldn't stay longer. I'll be back soon, though, and you've got to tell me all about those new ruins that were just excavated…"

"Good. Life's far too dull without you here to make me miserable. And good luck with your-"

"Eeek!" There was a crash of items tumbling to the floor and Mesha let out a few frightened squeaks. "Ah- R-Raine! Heh- heh- help!"

Kate and Raine whirled around to see Alex holding Mesha close to his side with one long arm. He tilted his head towards them in greeting. "My sweetling," he said to Raine, smiling. "There you are. It's been too long since I've seen you! Seven, eight years? Come here and give me a hug."

"Let me go!" Mesha yelped, squirming against his tight grip. "Raine! Help me!" She closed her eyes to resist shameful, frightened tears. "I don't want to be killed by your homicidal ex!"

"Ex?" He looked down at her in surprise, letting her go. She stumbled forward and would have fallen down again if Raine hadn't stepped forward to catch her, holding her close as she glared at Alex. "What has Raine been telling you, child? We're not ex anything. Legally, at least, we've been happily married for years."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Yuan stood with his forehead pressed against the door, his eyes closed as he listened. Inside the room, he could hear the sounds of mourning. Soft sniffles and pathetic, moaning wails, little-boy whimpers and then a sudden, angry crash as a table was overturned or a chair smashed against the wall and a scream of fury. He felt his own tears come, unbidden, unwanted.

"Mithos…" he whispered against the door before opening it and going in. The boy-king sat there on the floor, in his magnificent castle granted to him for saving the world. Vinheim, it was called, and Mithos never cared for it enough to ever get the name changed. He sat there with his skinny arms wrapped around his knees, trying so hard to be still that he was shaking with exertion. His long blond curtain of hair hid his face from the world.

"Get out of here," Mithos said. His voice was thick and slobbery.

"Mithos…" he said again, moving closer. "I…"

Mithos was suddenly on his feet, tears streaming freely down his cheeks. "I said: get out of here!" He stormed up to Yuan, shoving his chest with enough force to make the bluenette take a few steps back. When he tried to do it again, Yuan grabbed him by the wrist and held him back. There was a brilliant flash of purple light and suddenly the Eternal Sword was in Mithos's hands and he was brandishing it threateningly at the older half-elf.

"Mithos…" he was beginning to sound like a parrot. He shook his head. "Mithos, please. You've been in here for days. It's… time to get out," he finished feebly. "Martel is…"

"Don't you say that name!" Mithos screeched, his pre-pubescent voice cracking. He took a wild slice at the air and Yuan was forced back. "You don't have the right! You never loved her! You never wanted to marry her you didn't protect her you didn't want to be her husband you didn't want to be my father!" With every accusation he swung the Eternal Sword with both hands, completely without form or control. At the end he swung it too hard and it went flying out of his grip to land in the wall, point-first and quivering. He shambled towards Yuan, his face suddenly melting and sloughing off the bones as he caught fire.

"Mithos..."

"You didn't protect me. You betrayed me. You never loved me. You let us die. You let us die. You let us die."

"MITHOS!"

Yuan went tumbling head over heels, his cape getting hopelessly tangled up in his own legs and the legs of the chair he had been sitting in. Even now in the waking world he tried to flee the wrath of his Lord, moaning piteously for forgiveness. He lay in a mess of unread papers, a sheaf of the stuff clinging to patches of his damp skin. The white of his hair mixed with the bright white of the paper, like snow had come early this year. He struggled, almost strangling himself with his own cape and then after a few moments of wrestling with it simply tugged it off, standing up and leaning against his desk for support. He couldn't see straight, much less see things coherently, but he saw the spilt coffee on his desk and the dim, slim shape standing in his office.

The stranger started, his hand whipping out. There was a sudden pain in Yuan's leg and he looked down to see a needle had suddenly sprouted there.

"You…" Yuan gurgled, taking an unsteady step forward before falling onto the ground. He saw the coffee he had been drinking before he passed out. The mug had been overturned and the thin brown liquid was slowly dripping onto his carpet. When it had been steaming hot he hadn't noticed anything odd about it, but now he smelled something terribly, terribly wrong. Focusing on it, he saw traces of something else in the coffee.

He reeled, drunkenly, and then collapsed onto the floor again as he heard the steps of the slim shadow stepping closer. He screamed out in fury, grasping out to try and reach for the stranger's ankles to pull him down.

"What… did you…DO TO ME," he tried to yell between his gritted teeth, his voice coming out crazed and frantic. Half his face was smushed against the carpet, his eyelids were fluttering madly. "You…" he panted, his strength almost drained. "YOU… DRUG…" pounding a fist against the carpet, he tried to reach for one of his knives. "DRUG…!"

"GUH- huah!" Yuan wheezed painfully clutching at his stomach. "D- DUH… M- MUH- ME…" He writhed on the floor, the colors in the room swimming. "YOU… DRUH- GUH- D-DUH-! YOU… YOU…BAS- TA- TAH- TAH- R!"

The stranger lifted something high in the air, thin, sharp, gleaming in the florescent light of his office. The coffee dripped onto the pure white papers, spreading, threading little brown snaking wriggling tendrils mixing with the red of the blood from when the needle had hit him, it splattered on the papers. White no more. Snow no more.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

A/N: Sweet dreams, Yuan.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Hey Zeloooooooos!"

Lloyd cupped his hands around his mouth, yelling out into the mansion. "Hey, Zelos! Get your butt over here!" He looked around, one hand running through his closely cropped brown hair as he sighed. Colette was walking around the living room, calling out as well.

"Zelos! Zeloooos! It's me, Colette! Zelos! ZEEEEEHHH- LOOOOOOOO- ooh!" she squeaked as she walked straight into something- into someone. Her nose bumped against the brightly polished armor and she took a few hurried steps back to look up into the eyes of her father-in-law.

"K-Kratos!" she said. "It's you!"

"It's me," he agreed. He looked up at Lloyd, who had come running over with a big grin on his face. "Hello, son."

"Dad! Hey! What are you doing here? Where's Zelos?" He reached out and gripped Kratos's forearm tightly, clapping him on the shoulder with his other hand.

"Zelos was gone when I arrived, and I would think that would be obvious," Kratos said. "I came to see you, and Colette, and her child."

Colette took a few steps back, one hand over her stomach as she guiltily looked at the floor.

Lloyd visibly paled and then flushed. "Dad," he said, clenching his fist tight. "I…" he glanced over at Colette and then quickly averted his eyes. "How much do you know?"

Kratos swept past his only son to stand before Colette again. "Not nearly enough. How far along are you now? Time gets muddled when I have to travel such a long distance."

"Four months," she said softly.

"And you- neither of you know who the father is?"

"No," Colette whispered. "But it can't be Lloyd because I- Because we never…touched."

Kratos's temple visibly throbbed and he put a hand to his forehead. "Colette," he said, "Where were you four months ago?" He closed his eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh. "I need to know."

"Iselia," Lloyd answered. "We were visiting Dad. Dirk."

"But it wasn't anybody from Iselia!" Colette broke in, her jaw clenched.

Kratos surprised them both by rounding on her, his eyes ablaze. "Then who was it, Colette?" He took a step forward, reaching out to grab her by the shoulders. "Are you unable to answer such a simple question? Who. Was. It?"

"Kratos…" she croaked, her eyes brimming. "It wasn't anybody." She broke free from him and went down one of Zelos's endless hallways. "Nobody believes me!" she yelled out when she was a good distance away. "No one believes me, but I know the truth. It wasn't anybody, Kratos! There is no father!"