Disclaimer:(See Chapter 1)

A/N: I've got nothing much to say this time, guess I'll let the writing speak for itself. I tend to write about 2000 words per chapter, 5000 is usually my max unless I do a helluva long one shot, maybe I'll do a lengthly interlude with Wander or Ico later on, but until then you'll just have to put up with this shortness and choppiness, hope you don't mind too much. And before I forget there's an opinion poll linked into my profile, even if you don't leave a review just give me an indication what you thought of the first chapter. I'll probably post a poll every few chapters, so keep a watch if you want, I'll probably alert you when I do anyway.

NICO: The Wanderer Returns

The Wanderer Speaks, The Flight Of Nico

"They do look rather alike." Ico observed, "The stranger has no horns, but Nico is certainly his doppelgänger." The High Shaman Eril stood to his right, he felt it specifically strange that Ico had been injured, since he had run the Gauntlet that year, its seemed an ill omen. But he was just as concerned about the stranger lying on the bed beside the boy, when they'd brought him in he'd kept murmuring things in an ancient language which even Eril couldn't decipher the entirety of. Something about shadows and light, the foot that crushes mountains, gibberish to anyone else's ears, but not to his. It seemed too strange not to pick up on. It was the stranger who stirred first, attempting to rise, but held fast by the ropes Eril had tied himself.

"What in Hell's name are you doing?" The stranger growled, sounding more animal than man, "Let me go, now!"

"This is for our protection." Eril explained, "And for yours. Tell me child, what is you name?"

"Does it matter? Can you define me by name alone? Or do you just want a mark to scratch on my tombstone?"

"Come, boy. We mean you no harm. Tell us your name."

"My name is Wander."

"Do not blaspheme!" The Shaman ordered, his expression beneath his mask contorted into a sneer, "You are not our forbear. You are an outlander and should you continue with that claim you will not need a buzzard to slay you."

Wander tipped his head back and laughed, "Ha! Tell him who I am Ico!"

The old man stepped back in shock that was evident in his wrinkled features, "I don't know." He stammered, he'd met few outlanders while on his way back from the fortress where he'd met Yorda, "I've never met you."

"True." Wander confirmed, "Yet you suspect."

"Enough." Eril cut in, "You will tell us who you are, now!"

"How best to describe myself?" Wander pondered, "I live within shadows, I am a wasp who slays the mountains, a tick that duels the Gods, I am alone, no friends, no family, no sire, I know no joy, nor love, nor passion, nor sorrow. I am a Wanderer." Eril turned his back in disgust, Wander grunted, again trying to free himself.

"You'll wander no more, imposter."

"Who's there to stop me, Emon?"

The Shaman wheeled back around at the sound of that name. Wander had dropped it specifically for that reason. He looked at Wander closely and turned to leave, Ico continued to stare at the young man and sat at the foot of Nico's bed, looking across to him.

"I lose more friends that way." Wander said nonchalantly, "You know I speak the truth, Ico."

"How do you know me?"

"I know all about you, I know you still have the key." Ico's eyes widened, "That's right, you still have the sword, after all this time you can't bring yourself to destroy it. We share the same blood you and I, Ico. The same weakness, the same passions, the all consuming fire which drives men mad."

"Which is?"

"What else?" Wander smiled nostalgically, "The women we love."

"This is about Yorda."

Wander nodded. "I've seen her."

"Yorda died years ago, where could a vagabond like you meet her?"

"You still deny me, Ico? I met Yorda on the edge of dreams, she was on the way to see her mother, the woman that I loved. Because of you, she couldn't get her chance to see me again, but what you did was right. Yorda wanted me to tell you not to grieve. She knows you still have the nightmares, she wanted you to let go, for you and Nico to be happy."

"The edge of dreams?"

"We are born, we live and we die, that is the way of the world, a never ending loop, a cycle which is designed to aid the next generation in their rise to prosperity. I have wandered outside of that circle, I strayed from the destiny of men and in so doing, I damned them, I have lived long enough to see the future become the dust of history. I have already died, more than once in fact, but I have never seen the endless dream, only glimpsed at it through a shroud of darkness, it was there that I saw Yorda." Tears had begun to form in the corners of Ico's eyes, "You have to let me go, I have to get my hands on the sword." He cast his eyes over the other bed, "And I have to take Nico with me."

"Why now? Why Nico? Just, why?"

"How should I know, I've been treading the ether for centuries, it was only by chance that I saw you in Mono's castle. I think, had she known I was watching, she might have acted differently, but I did no worse for her sake."

"Out in the Forbidden Realm, what actually happened, did you really fight the devil?"

"After my own fashion, but only after I had helped him reincarnate. I killed what was never meant to have died, and in doing that I broke the life cycle, I inherited immortality and I hated it, while my body was reincarnated with his soul, my own being was cast into the voids of time, from there I watched the curse I had created spread." Ico brushed a hand over one of his horns, "That's right, because of Mono's magic, the spirit of Dormin is strong in you, but stronger, I think, in Nico."

"What makes you say that?"

"He is much like myself. Dormin would be attracted to that, he is, after all, my direct line descendant. He is a shadowy reflection of me, even if he doesn't realize it himself. The Colossi will want him, they'll come back for him. I don't understand all the details myself, but in him I see the death of this world, the culmination of my disturbance of the life cycle. The ironic thing is that only he can stop it, but he has to choose to do so, without me." Ico knelt by his bed and began to undo the knots which held him, soon the Wanderer stood, poised to leap from the window out into the street.

"Can you make it?" Ico asked.

"Trust me, I'm the Wanderer."

-

Nico awoke To the sight of his grandfather sat on the end of his bed, looking very pensive, staring at a recently vacated bed next to the one he occupied. For a few moments he didn't speak and studied the old man, resting his chin on his interwoven fingers, he looked almost guilty. Becoming aware of the agony bounding its way about his head, Nico grasped it in his hands and let out a low moan. At once his grandfather's eyes were on him. As Nico grasped his throbbing head he became aware of something else, he was missing a horn.

Tears began to fill his eyes as he worked his fingers over the fractured stump, snapped off just as it was really starting to come through. Shifting himself up the bed, Ico placed a hand on his shoulder, "It'll wilt away, you'll get another." He assured the young man, not knowing whether it was the truth, but from what Wander had said he suspected as much. "Maybe you'll get a better set than mine." Nico leaned froward and wrapped his arms around the old man, still sobbing gently. "Don't worry about it, the important thing is that you're alright."

-

"Nico, we have to talk." They were back home, Nico now with a bandage wrapped around his head, the stump of his broken horn looking like a huge lump on the side of his head, "It's about the attack." Ico sat in his chair by the fire and Nico came to sit by him, on the floor with his legs crossed, he looked like the child he had been, eager to receive a story of the Wanderer or some other ancient hero, but he was to be a man soon, such tales held less value than good solid advice. "You know that the beast wasn't an ordinary animal? It was a Colossus, it came here because of you."

"Me? What did I ever do to it?"

"I don't know why it wanted you, but Eril is certain that that creature was here to find you." Ico lied, "That means that as long as you are in the town, these bad things will continue to happen, unfortunately you're going to have to leave us, but I've hired an outlander guide for you, even though he's not one of us he seems trustworthy."

"But I don't want to leave." Nico complained, lowering his head to stare at his knees.

"But you have to leave and you have to do it tonight." Ico rose and looked down on the boy, it would be dark soon, "Right now, go get your bow, you'll be needing it."

Before long they were at the gates, they'd taken two horses from the stable with them, no one in the town actually owned a horse, they were more communal than anything, of course some riders would form a special bond with a certain horse, a common occurrence, but not one that was impossible to work around.

The gate, as usual was open, unusually there were two bodies which had been guarding it slumped against the huge wooden doors. And standing in the gate arch, was Wander. Ico carried another mysterious parcel, this one was a little shorter than the other, but Nico guessed it was some sort of weapon, a sword perhaps.

"Is that it?" Wander asked as he saw what Ico was carrying, the elderly man nodded, "Then we're square." Ico tossed the bundle to Wander, who peeked beneath the wrappings and smiled a little.

"Is this the guide?" Nico questioned, his grandfather nodded, "But he doesn't even have a horse." As if in response Ico released the reigns and the horse he'd been holding, a big black stallion, trotted its way over to its master, Wander gave it a gentle pat on the neck before swinging up into the saddle.

"I couldn't get the bow, I'm sorry." Ico apologized.

"I can make another." Wander replied, "Besides, Nico can shoot for me when he gets good enough."

Nico was rather confused at this point, was he to ride with his grandfather, that would make them both very saddle sore, why not get three horses? In the darkness Nico saw his shadow lengthen as a light approached from behind, he turned to see High Shaman Eril flanked by a group of warriors on each side. "Time for the off!" Wander yelled, Ico shoved Nico up into the saddle, but then passed the reigns to Wander, the stranger began to gallop away as Ico turned toward the approaching warriors, Nico glanced back to see his grandfather retrieve another sword from under his cloak, a broader sword which buzzed with a strange energy. He saw a small part of the engagement and yelled back to his beloved grandpa, but he got no reply other than the stranger telling him to stow it, pretty soon they were out of sight.

Having left Ico behind, Nico realized that he had left part of himself behind as well, he'd left the child he had been behind, he realized what a noble thing his grandpa had done for him, what a fate he must have endured, or was still enduring. They had slowed down from their fevered pace by now and the stranger looked back to him, still not relinquishing his reigns, "I'm Wander." he said, the name was familiar, but it didn't register with Nico, nothing did, "Suit yourself." Wander growled and turned forward.

"Nico." The boy replied half heartedly, running his fingers along the bow his grandpa had given him, a sign of his manhood, a sign that he needn't be a child any more.

"Nice to meet you Nico, we're going to get to know each other real well."