A/N: I am terribly sorry for the cliff hanger ending of the last chapter... NOT!
LOOK UP TO THE SKY TO SEE
PAPER WINGS
SEE THE WINGS
AND WATCH THEM BURN
5,883 words, plus some extras at the end of the chapter.
Enjoy.
OoOoOoOo
"Well, all I have to say this was fun while it lasted, babe," Gnome said to Sheena. "I'm so sorry. Please don't hold back."
Then without further warning he charged at Sheena. "Prepare to eat dirt!" Gnome growled, swinging his shovel directly at Sheena's head.
There was no time for words. Her eyes overflowing, Colette mustered up all of her angelic strength to bridge the distance between them and shoved Sheena to the side, the flat of Gnome's shovel crashing into her head with a clang! that would have been inanely comical under any other circumstance. Though numb from shock and betrayal, Sheena still felt the blond whimper once before going limp in her arms.
"Colette!"
It was uncertain who cried out, but the reaction was the same- a deep, hellish anger. Sheena was vulnerable; on the floor and with an injured girl in her hands, but she managed to pull her enchanted cards out in time to deflect another blow from Gnome's merciless shovel. "Pyre Seal!" she shouted, and the flames kept him at bay for a few precious seconds.
Lloyd practically tore up the dirt as he flung himself over to his wife, leaving Sheena free to attack and Zelos pulled out his sword, roaring wordlessly at the Summon Spirit and charging headfirst into the battle. Gnome was driven back by his and Sheena's animal fury, his velvety muzzle pulled back in an uncharacteristic snarl.
"Colette? Colette?" Lloyd frantically ran his hands over her petite frame, checking for pulse and just for the comfort of being able to hold her. "Colette! Colette! Damn it!" A sickening red ribbon trailed along the back of her skull; fat droplets of blood fed the earth with her precious Chosen blood. "Oh Goddess, Colette, no..."
Yuan quickly placed himself between the couple and the flurry of blows only a few feet away, his muscles so tense he was quivering. "Give me one of your swords and get her somewhere safe!" he barked, and Lloyd was too swamped in Colette's still form to argue or think. He tossed both swords to Yuan and the former angel caught them while running to help his friends.
Lloyd gingerly picked her up, not even looking behind him to see the fight and ran to the only healer he knew- his father.
Clang!
Gnome parried a wild sword thrust from Zelos and forced the human stumbling back. Yuan swerved around the human, crouching low as he ran up to the Summon Spirit and picked up where Zelos had left off. He was clumsy with twin swords, but Yuan's body remembered how to fight even if his mind had forgotten almost two thousand years of experience. The silver haired seraph got under Gnome's defense and slashed upwards with the twin swords, leaving a scarlet X on Gnome's furry chest. Growling, Gnome swung his shovel again, horizontally and aiming for the head. Yuan leaned impossibly far back, watching the shovel fly over his face with deceptively passive eyes.
Zelos leapt over the angel, his sword high over his head to slash down with all his strength. Gnome side-stepped, swatting Zelos aside even as he sent a clod of earth to his right, smashing into Sheena's abdomen and knocking the wind out of her. Sheena fell onto her back but then wrenched herself back onto her feet, knowing that to lie down equaled death.
As if reading her thoughts, Gnome cried out over the sounds of the scuffle- the only sounds to be heard on the quiet island. "Don't hold back, Sheena!" he said, jerking one paw high in the air. Having seen this move countless times before, Zelos lunged to the side, dragging Yuan with him just before stalagmites erupted out of the earth they had been standing on. One of the spikes snagged Yuan's cape, though, and the former seraph choked. Almost dropping his swords in a panic as he fumbled with the clasps, he quickly gave up that idea and slashed through the tough fabric with one of Lloyd's twin swords instead.
"I will make you pay," Yuan said, his teeth gritted painfully, though it was uncertain whether he meant to pay for what Gnome did to Colette or what he did to Yuan's signature cape.
"Prove it," Gnome dared them, his obnoxious voice jeering. "You who bear the right of the pact, prove yourself to me! I am one who was bound to Sheena, now I am one who is bound to no one!" He turned his back on the men and turned to Sheena. She was shocked to see that sorrowful tears were flowing down his muzzle, and in spite of herself she hesitated.
"Don't hold back!" he cried again, rapidly spinning round and forcing them all back from the deadly edge of his shovel. "Hurry up and kill me!"
Sheena rushed back in, cursing all the while. "Damn it, Gnome!" she said, ducking under another swing. "Why-?!"
Gnome ran at her and, barely able to dodge the wild swings, Sheena's pale face scrunched in concentration and anger. "Your- pact- is- broken!" he said savagely, with each thrust. Steel rang out against steal as he whirled around again, stopping Zelos's sword with the shaft of his shovel. Pushing the human away, he hefted his shovel again and brought it straight down-
Right into Yuan's hand. The former angel grabbed the razor sharp edge with his right hand, his mouth pulled back in a feral grin. Squeezing, he pulled the shovel back and crushed the metal with the strength of his new, robotic hand he had installed to replace the one Kloitz had taken from him. Seeing the opportunity, Zelos lifted one arm, slamming down on Gnome's round head with a furious smash from his shield. Gnome let out a mousy squeak, staggering under the blow, and Zelos followed up with a twirling, dancing upward thrust that buried the blade deep in the Summon Spirit's belly.
"Victory Light Spear!"
Sheena pressed her attack from behind Gnome at the same time, her enchanted cards flying out of her hands to encircle the Summon Spirit. "Mirage Seal!" she shouted, and Gnome's soft brown fur was etched with grotesque ribbons of blood from the edges of the cards. He gave his pitiful squeal again, making Sheena's resolve crack as she saw her former friend in such pain- pain that she had inflicted.
"I SAID DON'T HOLD BACK!"he shouted, and a circle of light burst from the ground around him, arcane symbols etching themselves onto the ground at their feet. "YOU DID IT ONCE, SHEENA, YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN! MAKE THE PACT!"
Sheena leapt back a good five feet, clapping her hands together and conjuring cold winds to supplement her boiling anger. "Fine!" she snapped, "I will make your power mine once more, Gnome!" Holding her hands out in front of her, with a black energy leaking from her very pores to cause a deathly aura of power to surround her, she began to chant in Mizanese. Fueled by her anger and her fear and pain, both emotional and physical, she barely felt it when she used up half her mana for one final, killing blow.
Slicing out with Lloyd's twin swords, Yuan channeled all of his energy into canceling whatever spell Gnome was cooking. He didn't know why, but seeing Sheena there, summoning while he attacked, brought back flashes and images of long-gone memories. It was like those times when you catch a familiar scent, the thoughts aren't organized- it's flashes, and an instant recollection. The knowledge hit him like- well, like Gnome's shovel hit his face and he was sent flying for a few glorious minutes, sans angel wings.
The only way someone else could control a Summon Spirit was if Mithos had died.
Why didn't he remember that before? Why had he blocked himself from this truth? When he had fought side by side with Kratos and Martel, fighting to conquer a primal force of the universe, a Summon Spirit, they knew. They knew that this was permanent- until death do they part. He flipped in midair, skidding, already running back into the battle with a new light in his eyes and a fresh bruise on his face.
He practically danced out of the way of another chunk of rock and Zelos danced as well, lunging in and out and twirling their dance of death and feeling the earth begin to rumble under their feet and feeling only a deep dread, a wordless hope that Sheena finished her summoning before Gnome finished this spell- a spell that felt like the end of the world.
There was a flash of blue light, and Sheena's voice rang out with power.
"I call upon the Disciple of Everlasting Ice! I summon thee- Come, Celsius!!"
OoOoOoOo
Genis recoiled at the sight of Matias's horribly scarred lips. Matias didn't seem to mind, though, simply wrapping up his lower face and pointed ears with his ragged vermilion scarf. They were hidden from view once more, and the slim hipped pseudo-angel waited mutely for his half-elf kin to react.
"Kloitz did that to you, didn't he?" Genis said, his words faltering and awkward. What else was he to say? Was he supposed to apologize, as if that would ever erase the torture Matias had been through? A fresh surge of hatred boiled through Genis, but this time he fought back his anger; he would save it for when he saw Kloitz again.
Matias nodded.
Genis put a hand to his face, his palm rubbing against his forehead as he closed his eyes in total frustration.
If you were to ask Sheena, Genis heard a floating voice say from behind him and above him and within him at the same time, She would confirm that this is an ancient but effective and still in use method of Mizanese torture. My lips are permanently sewn shut. This is why I seek her... and-
The thought was abruptly cut off. Genis felt a sudden oppression in his mind, the way a bug must feel when squashed to death by the careless giants walking over them, oblivious to their tiny struggles. The tall half-elf didn't realize what it was at first, because not many people are capable of truly experiencing anxiety when the anxiety is not theirs.
Matias's ex-sphere glittered on his right hand. Genis pointed at it. "Is that how you're able to talk to me?" he asked, an anxious reluctance in the question. Sheena and Pandora had only told him briefly of the first time they encountered Matias in the desert, and the fact that Genis could hear him made him wonder if Marble's ex-sphere was special, too.
A long pause; Genis felt more than heard the silence in his mind before a floating thought came through from his subconscious mind:
Partly.
And then-
I have a message from your brother.
"What is it?" Genis said, faster than his mind could recognize the actual words. He stepped up to the barrier, pressing his hands flat against the bubble. "How could he send you a message? How could he even do these things to you if he's locked up in jail?" He knew it was supposed to be impossible, but that didn't make it any less believable.
His servant in Red.
"Kuchinawa," Genis affirmed, disturbed by the flashes of red silk that came unbidden to his mind. Matias didn't speak to him so much as convey his emotions- only he did speak it as well, sort of. It was confusing, and Genis felt the beginnings of a headache in a part of his brain that he never knew existed.
There was a more pronounced hesitation this time around, and Matias looked longingly at the open window that was outside the perimeter of his bubble.
"Say it," Genis said. "Or so help me, I'll leave you in here forever."
Matias shook his head slowly, turning his head to the left and then to the right before looking straight ahead of him, into Genis's eyes. You won't like what I have to- He jumped when Genis slammed his fists against the bubble.
"Well if you're not going to tell me, then you can rot in there!" the boy said, his temper running rampant again, as it always did when things were at their most delicate. "As far as I'm concerned, you're still my enemy!"
Matias clenched his fists, balling up the sheets on his bed as he narrowed his eyes at Genis.
That's good, cause I'm sure as hell not your friend, Matias sent. I should have known- you're just like your brother!
Genis gave a sharp gasp, a searing pain slashing from one end of his brain to the other, traveling along the line that separated the hemispheres and lingering in his forehead, right between his eyes. The stinging word- brother- seemed to have triggered it. Angry and stumbling, he left the room no more enlightened than he had when he had entered it, flashes of Kloitz's smiling face burned into his blurry vision.
"Damn it, why did you do that?!" he heard Presea shouting, but more than that he heard Matias's angry, incoherent thoughts that threatened to swamp him.
Stupid, stupid, Kloitz Genis! Pain, the pain in my mind and face and my heart! He hurt me, he hurts everyone he loves! Even me, even me! I helped him- but my father- and my family, I was supposed to have a- family! But your precious Pandora and Orochi, and Sheena and Charles, that bastard, but I survived- I survived!!! So don't you dare threaten me, Genis SAGE!
Each word was like a punch to the gut. Genis was only barely aware of the real world anymore, his headache in that special part of his mind that was invisible before now, the headache in it was growing unbearable and pounding. More shouts grew in his mind; Matias was standing at the edge of his bubble, face oddly calm even as he raged mentally at the blue-haired half-elf.
Did you believe that letting him live would make him grateful? You should have killed him, and now he won't stop until he's killed you! Don't you understand by now? This Kloitz is not the Kloitz I grew up with and loved with and fought with! I was closer to him than you will ever be, and look what he did to me!
SHUT
Genis raged against the whirlwind in in his mind.
THE
He pushed forward with that part of his mind that Matias had awakened.
HELL
And Matias fell backwards as Genis unleashed his own fury on the pseudo-angel's mind.
UP!!!!!
Presea backed away as far as she could as Genis's eyes erupted with their own light. "Either you're with me or against me!" he raged out loud, his eyes emitting a navy blue light that shot forward through the semi-darkness of the room like twin laser beams. "Either you're with Kloitz or you're with me, do you understand?" He continued, pressing forward with his mind and his body as well as he easily slipped through the transparent bubble containing Matias. He grabbed the androgynous beautiful half-elf by the front of his shirt, squishing him down to the floor. "You say I'm like my brother? I'll show you how much like my brother I can be if you ever pull that kind of crap with my mind again! You're not the only one with a special Ex-Sphere!"
He lifted his Cruxis Crystal in front of Matias's face. The lights were chaotic and swirling, their colors ranging from purple to orange but always returning to that coldly burning navy blue.
"What is my brother planning?" Genis demanded. "I know something is going to happen. I know you know, too. Kloitz would never settle for remaining crippled and captive forever..." He tightened his grip. "Is he planning to escape? That's it, isn't it? You said you knew my brother- well tell me everything you know about him!"
The vermilion fabric of Matias's scarf stretched over his frowning mouth and he closed his eyes, sharply cutting off their mental connection. He was a lot more experienced in this area of fighting than Genis was, but the bluenette didn't let that stop him. He pressed forward again with his mind, and fragmented memories floated before his eyes.
Matias clenched his eyes shut tighter, but tears leaked through them any way. You want to see? Matias thought-whispered into his mind. You want to see your brother-? I will show you more than you want to know. I'll show you everything- from the beginning.
And Genis was too deep in Matias's memories by then to fight it when he felt strong hands grab at him and pull him deep into the Stygian darkness.
OoOoOoOo
First of all, before the visions, comes the smell.
It is deep and rich and threatens to choke him. Then the half-elf sees faces- some are Rodyle. Some are Magnius. Some are Kloitz. Some are Pronyma. Surprisingly, he also sees Pandora and Orochi and Sheena, and an unfamiliar blond man, too. He finds sadness and a childish, but not quite innocent heart beating fast with love and devotion, and he sees Kloitz again. He could smell him and feel him, too- every detail that Matias had cherished of his twin. More unfamiliar faces and locales, and the smell again. He looks down into the swirling sea of Matias's memory, and inhales deeply the ever-present musky, salty odor of the ocean. It's easy to dive into that sea because Altamira reminds the half-elf of that time spent on Rodyle's Ranch. The Remote Island Ranch had been home for fifteen years- before the half-elf escaped the destruction with life, and little else. The half-elf can feel those leather, feathery wings bestowed by Rodyle folding in preparation for the dive, and when their body hits the water there is no splash- only recollection.
Sometimes, smell triggers the memories better than sight does.
OoOoOoOo
Pigeons exploded into flight in a busy town square- Meltokio. The slim-hipped less figure had never seen real pigeons before. It was an indulgence to take a break and observe how their feathers shimmered with different colors that the eye could not notice with only a cursory glance. What seemed black was actually a brilliant purple tinged with green, and one of them was snow white from top to bottom. Angelic. If a person looked hard enough, one could see what others missed.
Matias knew the pigeons were beautiful.
Matias also knew that they had been used to fly miles to carry messages, and that was why Rodyle had his child's wings made with pigeons in mind, as well as bats and, of course, his beloved dragons.
The only living child of the Cardinal of Earth walked through Meltokio with wings uncomfortably pressed and bound with rope, hidden by an over sized coat. The jacket looked a little lumpy but that was OK, it didn't draw undue attention to the slim-hipped, beautifully androgynous half-elf.
The slim figure in the lumpy coat wondered how a person could feel so calm, and how a person could just keep on living like this. Matias's mind was at a total blank- a quiet, if not serene blank that could be broken at any moment. And Matias knew when it broke, the weeping would start even though life still continued. Or maybe that was why the pseudo-angel felt so curiously empty and afraid?
Matias fed the pigeons with chunks of bread. I don't deserve to be alive. I shouldn't have the strength to be walking and breathing when I know that things will never be the same.
But I guess that's the problem with your animal instincts. Sometimes your higher mind can't fight that will to keep on going
Kloitz had said that- it had only been a few days ago.
A few days ago, Matias would never have dreamed that Kloitz- Matias's only real love in this world- would be dead.
Kloitz had said Matias's wings were beautiful, too.
"Excuse me, Sir?"
Matias kept on walking, certain the voice could not be addressing such a scruffy figure that the half-elf undoubtedly presented.
"Sir? Sir, I must ask you to stop- immediately!"
Matias felt a hand pulling on the sleeve of the lumpy coat. The tall, tall, half-elf looked serenely down into the eyes of a short, balding man. I could kill you, Matias thought. You are a human, and I am a superior half-elf. Only days ago I would have taken you to my father so that you could be treated like the cattle you are.
But you don't know who I am.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to relieve yourself of that weapon." The sweaty, balding man pointed one dripping finger at the spear resting on Matias's back. "Due to the increasing rates of violence and crime on the streets of Meltokio, I am currently enforcing a new law that prohibits any individual to carry a weapon unless given a special permit to do so. You will hand over your weapon."
Matias was silent for a good, long time, drawing out the tension with a ferocious glee.
"Indubitably."
Matias unstrapped the spear and handed it to a shocked Max H. Kynes.
"O-Oh!" he said, startled. "Ma'am, I am terribly sorry. I- I don't know how to apologize for this, but I had- ah- I assumed you were-"
"It's all right," Matias said, mentally adding, You stupid, ignorant human. "It happens more often than you would think."
You don't know who I am.
That's good. No one is supposed to know who I am. I died, with my father, and my love, and everyone else who drowned in the Remote Island Ranch.
Matias smiled at him without humor and then turned her back on the poor, pitiful human. She walked down the busy streets of Meltokio, wondering if she wasn't sad because she was numb beyond feeling, or if she wasn't sad because she was finally free of her father's reigns over her life. Maybe she was actually happy that Rodyle was dead. It was a confusing thing for her to sort through... her father had always been a gray area in her life.
Kloitz, she would weep for in her own time. Deep in her heart, she still doubted that he was dead. She felt... she felt the love they shared would have given her some warning, some mental twinge, if he had really departed from her forever. What she would do in the meantime, before she could give her heart over to mourning or to rejoice at their reunion, only the Gods knew.
And when she walked down a dark alley at the wrong time of night, and two men tried to take her money, and she killed them and realized that there were more men like them, she knew what she could do.
She couldn't be the next Desian Grand Cardinal and rule Desians.
But she could certainly rule these pathetic little humans.
OoOoOoOo
"It's you!" Genis said, not sure what disturbed him the most- Matias's gender or her revelation that she was the crime lord who had terrorized Meltokio for so long. "You're the one that makes me scared for my sister if she's alone in Meltokio at night! You!"
"It's a living," came Matias's delicate voice in his head. This was her real voice- not the mental voice she sent through whatever mystical powers she had, and apparently Genis and Sheena had as well. "I keep a close watch on my people, though. They have certain rules about murder and rape. Your friends Epiphany are making my job hard, though."
"Don't insult Pandora, or her father! They're trying to fix the mess you created!" Genis couldn't say if he was floating or falling or standing on the brink of an everlasting nothingness from which there was no left or right or up or down and went on until eternity. It unnerved him. It made him scared. And above all, it made him angry at his powerlessness.
"You heroes who restored the world- you're the ones who created a mess. Did you believe that everything would fall into order simply because you did the right thing? Do you realize the anarchy going on right under your nose, that you caused by exposing the Church of Martel as a fraud? They believed in it, wasn't that enough for you? I am among the common people, and I hear a dark muttering that would chill your child heart."
"Damn it! I am not a child! What does this have to do with my brother? Why did you show me all this crap?"
"I was... upset."
The voice floated around inside him. "No duh," he thought bitterly, and was surprised to find that his thoughts were just as loud as his spoken words- if his spoken words were spoken at all. Matias was also standing- or floating- in the darkness. She was still wearing the patched, baggy clothing she wore in reality, and now Genis saw another reason for the bandages wrapped tightly around her chest, that he could get a glimpse of every now and then through the tears in her shirt. They weren't only for the wounds- they were for her breasts! How could he have been so blind?
"Tell me about my brother," Genis demanded. "You brought me here for that, so you'd better keep to your word!"
Matias's felt her temper flash. Genis could feel her feel her temper erupt- It was a visible thing in this world- red hot and whiplashing against Genis, and since he could not move without falling into the void he could not dodge it. It didn't burn so much as sting, the way it would sting when someone you love yells at you. "I told you not to threaten me!" she snapped.
"Keep your powers to yourself!" Genis shot back, literally. It was like a projectile spinning right to her heart, and he felt a grim satisfaction at her wince of pain. The satisfaction smothered him like a forest green cloak, lifting him higher off the "ground" of the nothingness to sneer down at her.
She winced again, looking away. "All right," she thought, and the weakness in it was whisper thin as a mild breeze. "So you are like your brother. You will not be denied."
"You want to know about everything?" She looked up at him, uncertain whorls of fear and something purple and pink and red and sad dragging at her clothes whipping about her. "As you wish. I will go through our family lineage to our common ancestor. Genis," she said, her soft purple eyes overpowering him. "You and I are cousins."
The implication of what that meant was not lost on him.
"No," he said at once, and the lack of color portrayed his lack of thought. It was a wild, animal instinct of rejection. "No," he said again. And again, with the white hot rage of a young man: "No!"
"This power is a hereditary gene passed down from our great grandfather- Stephen Sandsbreath, one of the first Desian Grand Cardinals. The Ex-sphere works in two ways- at first to awaken then power, and then to suppress it before it's greatness overwhelms our minds." She continued on, the purple and pink soothing her now, caressing her with calmness and the certainty of knowledge with undeniable proof. "Stephen Sandsbreath had four children with another half-elf woman. Her name is lost to me, not that it matters. From those four children came more children- one of them was your grandmother, and her brother was my grandfather. And, I suppose, one of them must have fallen in love with a Mizanese man or woman... Learning that Sheena was one of us was quite a shock to me. I had to research our family further in order to confirm... ah! But we were talking about your grandmother. She married a human man with the name of Sage- they in turn had your father and your uncle, twins, the only children they ever bore. Your father in turn married a pure elf woman named Virginia; they had three children, Raine, yourself, and your younger twin Kloitz who was named after his human father."
"Shut up!" he wanted to slap her, but could only manage the weak emotional attacks. He wasn't good enough yet to learn how words and emotions could be used to hurt her the way Matias had been hurting him in the hotel room.
"From another son of Sandsbreath came another son who married another half elf... and Rodyle was born. He was my father, as you know, but never in act. Pronyma would never suffer the indignity of having to go through childbirth, so they simply mixed together the proper DNA and I was born in a test tube with my twin brother, Matias. I was to be named Paloma, but he died and so they gave his name to me." The emotions around them were decidedly fluid-like, but at the next statement Matias's grew brittle and dry. "It is, after all, a gender-ambiguous name."
Genis wondered if he could be sick in the dream world- or whatever world this was.
"And so, as you can see, we are cousins." This time, it's Matias who has the satisfaction thick and syrupy floating around her. She likes making him feel this way- he reminds her of his brother, and his brother hurt her in more ways than one. "My grandfather is your great-uncle. My father, Rodyle, your enemy, is also your cousin. But that has never mattered much in romantic relationships between half-elves- in fact it is condoned, hoping that the offspring will be more elf-like if the mana in our blood is mixed. Not that I cared- I loved Kloitz more than breath and life."
"I know," Genis said, after deciding that he could be sick- sick to his very soul. "I know that... about the cousins..." Yuan told him that a lot.
"So you know at least some of the customs of our race... that's a good thing."
"Pandora!" Genis thought suddenly, achingly. He didn't know why- it was just the way Matias had said 'our race' that reminded him so much of the girl. "I want to see Pandora. I want to get out of here!" He arched forward, grasping at his blue hair. "This isn't what I wanted to know! I didn't need to know this! I hate you for telling me this! I hate my parents!" He wouldn't ever say these things out loud- the fact that they were thoughts meant that by default each statement did not have to be in concurrence with the other, or that they even had to have a reason for them. They simply were what was passing through his mind. "Raine... Raine! Yuan! Tell me this isn't true!" The chaotic swirl around the bent figure of the teenager. "I want my friends!"
"Of course, the fact that Kloitz and I were both the 'heirs' to Desian Grand Cardinals was another benefit..." Matias mused. Her eyes were sharp. "But we're not real anymore. I'm just a shadow... a shadow of my former life, living in the shadow of my dead twin. It isn't much of a wonder he doesn't love me anymore. Could you love a shadow?"
"I want my family- not you! You're a liar! You're lying! I am nothing like Kloitz- I'm not a Desian! I'm not like Rodyle! I don't want any of his filthy blood!"
"I wanted a family once, too. Kloitz would have been my family, had he lived." Genis could see the words pained her, even though she said them calmly. He didn't care. "We would have been Cardinals together, forming an alliance like my parents formed when they agreed to create my brother and me, only ours would have been formed from love and not greed and fear. We would have changed the world, like you wanted to do. But we would have done it subtly."
"Kloitz is alive!"
"Not my Kloitz."
"Shut up! Your Kloitz- he's-" Genis realized he had no idea what point he was trying to make. The whorls around him swelled dangerously, and even here in his own mind he could see the mocking glow of his Cruxis Crystal.
"Dead," Matias finished for him. "Kloitz died, but he still walks. In the last moments of his life he lost control of these powers that run from our common ancestor." "Shut up!" "I have no idea whose poor soul he managed to enslave, but he did. He pulled the life force out of them and... it scarred his mind. Desian soldiers are all implanted with a microchip in their brain to ensure total loyalty." "Shut UP!" "So, this faulty mind and fragmented soul must have tampered with his. At least... this is the conclusion I have come to, after seeing him with my own eyes and seeing the madness in his." "Shut up!"
Matias looked at him with contempt. "You're the one who wanted to know."
At the beginning, it was Matias who was blind with rage and grief. Now is it Genis, and he can only shake his head in numb disbelief.
"This isn't what I wanted to know..." he said. "I never needed to know this."
"Kloitz is planning to escape," Matias said, sighing once. "Now I reach the end of the story such as it is, and it ends with his servant, Kuchinawa. He is already gathering dark souls with Mizanese arts that no man should ever use. This is how they attacked Mizuho the first time; with a scattering of faithful Desians and dark souls that need to hide their face from the world. They plan to attack within the month; any more than this I do not know."
Silence.
"I want to go home," Genis whispered, completely subdued.
But they both know there is no home for half-elves. Not yet- maybe not ever.
It was only after they were shocked back into their physical bodies where no time had passed that Genis realized something that had been staring him in the face. Hell, Matias had practically said it, but Genis refused to acknowledge the truth. He realized, not without confusion, that Sheena had this mysterious power, too... and Sheena had more than once admitted to having elfin ancestors. Then he looked down and saw that he was still pinning an unconscious Matias to the floor. Having a warped sense of chivalry, he felt that somehow this was infinitely wrong in an infinite amount of ways- even if she was his family and enemy. He let go of her shirt and managed to inch his way off of her and slump on the carpet, next to her. Her eyes fluttered open, hazy and violet, like Rodyle's. Like his sister. And brother.
But her eyes could only stay open for so long; she spent herself on the thought world. Her head dropped back again and she was fast asleep. Genis could only think hazily that Sheena, at least, did not have those disturbing purple eyes.
And then his eyelids dropped and he fell asleep, lying next to his cousin with his eyes facing hers.
OoOoOoOo
A/N: There was going to be more to this chapter, but I decided to save it for next time.
These are the hints that you probably overlooked; most of them are me showing how a girl- in this case, Presea- can easily disguise herself as a boy. They both use the same methods.
Chapter Six: More than once, Matias is described as slender or hipless. This comes into play later, when Presea is introduced using a disguise similar to Matias- sunglasses, baggy clothes, she is also described as "slim and hipless" like a boy. And the ex-sphere. While Matias's is similar to Claire's (see chapter twelve) Presea's is noted to change her voice to sound deeper. (Again, see chapter twelve.) (Also in this chapter, there is a tense scene between Matias and Pandora. Matias also seems to know Pandora's "Bastard father". Sheena sees a blond man inside Matias's mind. Also, Matias is surprised that Sheena can understand her. At this point she doesn't know about Sheena's ex-sphere. She was speaking the truth in Flanoir- Sheena interested him, but the drive behind it wasn't strong.)
Chapter eight: Matias opened his eyes, looking up. I am not a man, he sent to Sheena.
"I think he's a half-elf," Sheena said. He nodded again, a bit reluctantly. (I really thought you guys would catch on at once. I almost didn't put this in there!)
-And when Sheena is inside Matias's mind-
There was a sudden clarity to her vision, crystal clear in the semi-darkness of the room. Behind her she could hear her wings rustling, ugly wings with mottled black feathers and big hooks at the end, like the thumbs of a bat. (This is when Matias knows something is up. Not even Claire has power like this. Matias is almost certain by now that Sheena is a relation; she escapes to get some research done and comes back with a message for Sheena from Kloitz. How could she get this message in such a short amount of time? Was she intercepted along the way by Kuchinawa?)
Chapter Ten: He pressed the gem at the base of his throat and suddenly his deep, pubescent boy voice changed to that of a young girl. (Here Presea shows the effective disguise an Ex-sphere can help you make.)
At fifteen, she barely reached five feet tall and she was still as chestless and slim-hipped as a boy. (Just another reference- not all girls have boobs like Sheena!)
Chapter Twelve: "And Presea Combatir," Regal said loudly, stepping over to yank the girl's sunglasses off of her face, "Needs to stop using Ex-spheres to let her climb up walls and disguise her voice." He plucked at the end of her baggy shirt, distaste showing on his face. (Here, Presea uses an ex-sphere to disguise herself only slightly.)
"It- it was expensive. The Katz was loath to part with it, but they all have a price. It can do a lot of things. I change my hair with it, but the Katz said it was very strong. A half-elf could pretend to be human, and it can affect what you're wearing, like make a dress look like a tuxedo, or, or, or opals look like diamonds." (You'll remember that Claire and Sheena have the same Ex-sphere, and so do Genis and Matias. In chapter three Yuan doesn't recognize Genis, and Pandora doesn't either in chapter eight. This means the hiding ability is available in all of them, and is very strong. But because Claire is only a human, her telepathic skills are woefully inept compared to the others. Matias uses it to appear even more masculine, after she has come to the conclusion that she wants to be seen as male. This will be explained even further... in future chapters.)
Chapter Fourteen: She was wearing an Altamira uniform, but one tailored for a boy much bigger than she. Her pink hair was once again piled up under a bright red cap, and huge sunglasses covered most of her upper face like giant insect eyes. (Again, because Presea is so underdeveloped she can easily pass for a boy with her voice changer and a baggy shirt.)
He met her even gaze from behind blood-red lenses; he looked ready to go play a game of poker by the way his face was covered up... His tattered, baggy clothes didn't do much to hide the way his flesh stretched over his bones, and the bandages she could see wrapped around his chest were dirty and frayed. (Notice the similiarties? This is how Matias binds her breasts. Again, baggy clothes.)
Matias put a hand to his chest, apparently to check if his blood-caked bandages were still holding. He turned away from her, running thin pale fingers over his wounds. "You need some help with those?" she asked. He shook his head, tightening the bandages around his chest even though they seemed tight enough to cut circulation. (You see, here Matias is worried about the bandages- Presea was waving a knife around, and might have cut the bandages and the truth would be spilled... no pun intended.)
Chapter sixteen: "If you're so dead set on letting this criminal loose on your island, so be it. It's your problem- It's out of the M.L.E.K.'s jurisdiction."
"He's innocent-"
"-Of crimes in Altamira. Maybe," Pandora said. (Not about her gender, but her crime. Pandora knows since Triet, but that'll be explained later. (remember the feather?) As to why she's so nonchalant about someone who's eluded her and her father... well...)
Underneath those dark rags he called clothing Genis could see that his chest was tightly bound with more bandages. (Again, bandages).
Chapter eighteen: More than once, Matias is described as slim or slim-hipped- just like Presea. You'll notice that when inside Matias's head, not one single reference is made to Matias being a man. Every reference to Matias being male was an assumption made by the other characters, and Matias awkwardly accepted this, perhaps out of a desire not to be discriminated against. Matias also grows anxious when mentioning Sheena, because at this point she knows for certain that Sheena is related to them as well. Also, when Matias is raging against Genis, she mentions the name Charles and at one point Genis can see the face of an unfamiliar blond man. In chapter six, Sheena sees a blond man as well.
If you'll remember, the name of Pandora's adopted father is Charles.
Also, going way back into RUNAWAY, I mention about the crime rate in Meltokio and a ruthless leader who banded them together. Of course, that's Matias doing what she was born to do- rule the bad guys. In chapter twenty five of RUNAWAY Matias leaves a note for Sheena in the cave, "he" says the cave is a place "he" goes when things are getting rough in Meltokio. Also, in the dream she has, Sheena thinks Matias is Colette, only 'taller' and with a 'deeper voice'.
By the way, this is the last chapter where you'll be able to vote for the gender of Colette's baby. I hope you all haven't forgotten that little unsolved mystery yet? Currently in the lead is boy, with 8 votes, and girls are behind by two points at 6 votes.
So what are the heroes going to do about the threat to Mizuho? What does Kloitz have against that village anyway?
Have fun trying to guess what's going to happen next.
(Review or the owl will eat you.)