Yay! Here's chapter 2! Thank you so much for the reviews, Merel (XD) and Hikari No Aijou! They really make me want to keep writing! :) This next chapter actually has some dialogue pulled directly from the game. :O It's mostly just back-story and such, told in past participle-narration. The next chapter will have some Gala and Songi-interaction though, so look forward to that! (Although it won't get romantic until many, many chapters. ;D)

Edit: Thanks to Hikari No Aijou for reminding me that Biron is a god and NOT a goddess. XD I really should've double-checked the Legaia-wiki before I published this chapter. -_-

Chapter 2

About five minutes later, after the prophet Hari had appeared and offered to use his powers to help them, Gala knelt back by Songi and half-lifted, half-dragged him to his feet. Even near death, the man was incredibly heavy. Vahn, after the briefest of hesitations, rushed to Gala's side and wrapped one of Songi's limp arms around his own shoulders. Despite the fact that Songi had attacked and possibly destroyed everyone Vahn loved, the young boy was just too kind-hearted to simply stand by and leave him to die in the Seru-kai. Noa rushed to join them, and together the three heroes raised their Ra-Seru arms and rose into the sky, Songi in the middle of them.

A few seconds later, they were standing on top of a tall, partially hollow mountain.

"What? Is this... Mt. Rikuroa?" Noa asked, looking around. Vahn hurriedly extricated himself from Songi and moved to stand beside her.

"Rim Elm's Genesis Tree is dead," he said, throwing a cold glance over his shoulder at the unconscious man Gala was now struggling to support by himself. "So we came here. But we have to get back to Rim Elm and defeat Juggernaut."

Gala swallowed. He knew what he was about to say would not be well-received, but he forced himself to speak.

"I have to get Songi somewhere where he can have his wounds tended to," he said. "I think Zalan in Jeremi can help. I'll just take a Door of Wind there, drop him off, and meet you guys outside Rim Elm straight after."

"I guess we can't just let him die," Noa said, looking at their enemy with skepticism. "But what are we going to do if he tries anything again?"

"Kill him," Vahn said, his eyes narrowing. The harsh, loathing tone his voice had adopted was so unlike him, it made Gala's skin prickle. "To be honest, it's taking everything I have not to kill the bastard now. If Father, Nene, Mei and everyone else... I-If they don't..." He swallowed, turning away.

Gala looked down. He well understood Vahn's anger, even if it was horribly out of character. He might've been angry himself, if he wasn't so sick with worry instead. He didn't know what he'd do if the people of Rim Elm went the same way as the people of Conkram, as Noa's parents. More than anyone there, he thought about Maya. Maya, who had been like a mother to him and Songi for over half their lives.

Gala's gaze fell on Songi's unconscious form, and he found himself struggling to hold back tears. Why had Songi done what he did, to Maya of all people? How could he have done it?

"He'll be sorry. He really will be," Vahn concluded lamely after a moment, but most of the coldness had gone out of his tone as quickly as it had come, and now he really only sounded tired and afraid.

Gala tried not to think as he took out a Door of Wind and prepared to activate it. Right then, it was too hard to think about anything except just how hard and dangerous the upcoming battle with Juggernaut was going to be...

XxXxXxX

Of course, they had beaten Juggernaut, as well as Cort, who had fused with the evil Sim-Seru. And miraculously, everyone in Rim Elm had been spared, thanks to Vahn, Noa and Gala's partner Ra-Seru. Maya, Mei, Vahn's family, the Biron monk Tetsu... Everyone was safe. Even Cort, in a way. The powers of the Ra-Seru had restored energy and life to all in Rim Elm; the sickly or crippled had become well again, the older folk had seemed to grow a little younger, and Cort, Noa's older brother and the creator of the Mist, had been reborn as a baby.

Noa had sworn to take care of the newly born Cort, even though she was still just a child. She'd slipped away with Cort early the morning after Juggernaut had been destroyed, telling Gala that she was heading to Buma to see Cara and Grantes. She'd wanted to get away before Cort's presence upset the villagers but had assured him that she'd see him and Vahn again soon. She'd been very quiet and somber, not like her old, cheery, bouncy self at all. Clearly she was still very saddened by her parents' deaths, not to mention her sudden parting with Terra, who'd been her only companion for most of Noa's twelve years.

Of course, Gala could relate to the pain of losing his parents and Ra-Seru all too well, but he'd made up his mind not to think about Ozma right then. All it would do was upset him more, and he couldn't afford that at this point.

"If you ever need anything, Noa, just come and see me at the monastery," Gala had said to Noa when they'd parted, giving the young girl a one-armed hug. He would've hugged her more openly, even though such things weren't usually his style, but he hadn't wanted to disturb the sleeping Cort in his friend's arms.

After all, he couldn't hate an innocent baby, no matter how much grief he had caused in his past life. Noa would see to it that the new baby got a second, better chance at life, he was sure of it. Noa hadn't asked what Gala planned to do about Songi, perhaps because she'd known he didn't know himself yet.

Gala had left Rim Elm shortly after Noa. Vahn had still been deeply asleep, and though his younger sister, Nene, had offered to wake him, Gala had told her not to worry about it. Vahn had earned a nice sleep-in for once, after all they'd been through. Noa and Gala probably would've slept longer too, if they hadn't had so much on their minds.

Before he'd left Rim Elm, Gala had gone to say one final goodbye to Maya, assuring her that he'd be back to see her soon, once...

XxXxXxX

"Once Songi's..." Gala said, then stopped, hesitating.

In truth, he had no idea if his old friend would live or die. He'd already taken back the Light Talisman that had saved Songi's life, partly because he'd been worried about leaving a thing that could potentially summon the remains of a powerful Light Ra-Seru with such a person, and partly because it hadn't really been helping anymore.

No amount of Seru magic could help Songi now; Gala had already tried. Before leaving to fight Juggernaut, he'd tried summoning all the Light-based Seru he had, including Horn, and using their powerful healing spells on Songi's terrible wound. Zalan had been quite uncomfortable with this, since after his ordeals with Seru, he wasn't overly fond of them, but he hadn't said anything, and for that Gala had been very grateful.

The declining power of the Seru-kai, even when the prophet Hari had used the last of his great strength to keep the world alive for them, had quickly taken its toll, making all Seru's spells almost useless. The Light Seru, even Horn, had had little effect. They'd been able to keep Songi from dying - for now - but they hadn't been able to perform the miracles the former Master Teacher had come to expect from them. Just as he, Vahn and Noa had been warned, the Age of the Seru was quickly coming to an end, partly thanks to Songi's actions.

"Songi will be all right, won't he, Gala?" Maya said, her voice full of concern. "I mean, you said he was alive and being tended to, so he should..."

Despite the dire situation, Gala almost felt like smiling. Typical Maya, always thinking of them. Practically the first thing she'd done upon being freed from Juggernaut, apart from making sure her daughter, Mei, was unharmed, was turn to Gala and demand to know if Songi was all right. Even after all he'd done. Of course, Maya didn't think it was his fault at all. She was too kind to think like that.

"I don't know," Gala admitted after a short pause.

He didn't want to lie to Maya, and she probably wouldn't believe him if he tried. She was pretty quick-witted most of the time. Mei, standing next to her mother and not nearly as forgiving as her, spoke up.

"He's an evil person," she said coldly. "Why do you care what happens to him?"

Gala kept quiet, unable to answer. Though he hadn't known her very long, it was fairly obvious to him that Mei was a very sweet, caring person - much like her mother - but it seemed even she had her limits. Not that he could blame her. Her words made a lot of sense. In fact, all the things Songi had done made the label 'an evil person' seem pretty tame.

As for why he and Maya should care about him, Gala wasn't sure about that, either. He supposed they were caring about the old Songi, the one that had been blotted out so completely - either by greed, the Sim Ra-Seru, or both.

"Songi was competitive and vain, but he was a good child - gentle and obedient," Maya said sharply to her daughter. "I don't know much about the Seru, but I know that... the Mist and the Seru bring out the meanness and weakness in human nature."

Maya stopped, biting her lip. Gala lowered his gaze. He didn't feel comfortable with replying. He knew Maya was right, at least about the first part. Songi had been a good person when he'd been younger. He'd always been sarcastic, arrogant and lazy, prone to making unkind and unfunny jokes at other people's expenses, but he'd been a caring, loyal friend to Gala, always the first to jump to his defense when they were in danger or when he thought someone was picking on him. The word 'gentle' wasn't as fitting for him, but Gala thought he knew what Maya was referring to.

Just over ten years ago, Gala and Songi had both lost their families to a sudden and violent Seru attack that had left them as the only survivors in their village. They'd been hidden away in their houses at the time, as they'd been taught to do in such circumstances ever since the Mist had first appeared in the kingdom only months before. Master Zopu, the leader of a nearby monastery devoted to the god Biron, had found them and taken them both in, along with several others from neighboring establishments who had also suffered as a result of the Mist.

There, Master Zopu had begun teaching them the ways of the Biron martial arts. Despite everything else, the two boys had taken to their new strict regime well. Gala had found comfort in the powerful Biron god, feeling somehow that his strong, sacred gaze was now watching over him. Songi, even before being brought the the monastery, had known something about fighting. His father had taught him, he'd told Gala once when he'd asked. He hadn't appeared to like talking about his parents any more than Gala had, but from what little he had told him, his mother seemed to have died from an illness when he was very young, leaving his father to raise him alone. His father had clearly enjoyed studying martial arts and teaching his son everything he could, and Gala had gotten the impression that Songi had thought the world of him.

Even as he'd been caught up in his own terrible grief, Gala had noticed the way the older boy had moped around and refused to talk to others after they'd been taken in by the monks. He'd never been that quiet again, and it had lasted several weeks. Maya, Master Zopu and all the others in the monastery had been nothing but kind to the newcomers, and Gala had done his best to be grateful, even though the shock of losing his parents had left him too miserable to do much. Songi had made no effort to be grateful and had pushed away anyone who tried to get close to him. He'd eventually opened up slightly to Gala, if only because he'd been the only other boy in the monastery his age, and Gala, unlike the others, had never tried to pretend to understand him.

Maybe the two boys had drawn some comfort from the fact that the other knew what it felt like to lose loved ones. In a way, Maya did as well, but she had only been separated from her husband and daughter; there had still been a chance she'd see them again. Gala and Songi would never see their parents again, and even at such young ages, they'd had to accept that.

After about a month at the monastery, Songi had begun dealing with his grief by straying outside the protective boundaries of the indoor city and wandering off into the nearby forests to go exploring. Being cooped up inside night and day, unable to play outside unless the wind was blowing in the right direction and there was an intrusive adult free to supervise, Songi had gotten bored very easily, very quickly.

Often, he'd dragged Gala along with him. Or, maybe 'dragged' wasn't a fair word. He hadn't forced him, after all. But Gala had always come along when he'd asked him, because he just couldn't stand the idea of letting his only friend wander into such peril without him. Together, the risk of all the Seru that constantly roamed the two forests wasn't as big, though it was still there.

With his fighting skills, as well as the ones he was quickly picking up at the monastery, Songi had taken huge delight in destroying every Seru they came across. It hadn't taken much for Gala to join in, as he'd been learning the ways of a Biron warrior even faster than his friend, and together they had made quite the impressive duo. The fact that Seru had caused the sadness that had led Gala and Songi there in the first place had only made them more committed.

The 'gentleness' Maya was referring to came from the fact that, despite Songi's ferocity with Seru and his bluntness with most people, even after he'd started to trust others in the monastery, he'd had a strange compassion for any other living thing. The forests were dangerous, unforgiving places, especially with all the Seru there, and often the two boys had found small birds or rodents lying injured or dying on the forest floors. Seru didn't eat, so they merely mangled the helpless creatures and left them out to die or to be consumed by bigger, stronger animals.

Songi had always taken the injured creatures, and the tenderness with which he held and crooned to them had never ceased to amaze Gala. He was never that gentle with people, even him or Maya, but something about animals just seemed to soften him. Gala had often thought that it might've had something to do with his father, or even his mother. Perhaps one or both of them had really liked animals, and the creatures brought back some fond, soothing memories.

Whatever the reason, Songi had always insisted on smuggling the animals back to the monastery and nursing them back to health in his and Gala's room. A lot of the time, the animals' presence had given them away to Maya or Master Zopu, revealing the boys had been in those dangerous, Seru-infested forests and earning them both huge, severe punishments. Songi hadn't appeared to care though. He'd seemed to think it was worth it.

But somehow, at some point, Songi had changed. His honorable traits had diminished or disappeared, to be replaced with greed, anger and a fierce, unyielding lust for power. Gala was fairly sure what had caused it too. Losing his father and being shut up inside for so long had probably had something to do with it, but more than anything it had been the way he was always being outdone by Gala, his best friend.

Gala was better at Songi at almost everything - better at cooking, better at making things, better at academics, better at learning the ancient Biron script, better at making people like and respect him, and worst of all, better at fighting. Despite Songi's head-start and older age, Gala had quickly surpassed him, almost always beating him when they'd sparred. Everyone around them had constantly expressed their admiration and preference for Gala's abilities, without the faintest effort to hide these feelings from the other boy.

And this had eventually made Songi resent Gala, resent everyone, even Maya and Master Zopu to some extent. He'd begun going out into the forests to train more often, almost obsessively, and he'd stopped inviting Gala to go along with him. Before long, he'd stopped bringing back wounded animals as well, though it was certain that the forests had still been filled with them.

His arrogance had changed to flat-out narcissism and vanity, his laziness had changed to selfishness and a blatant disregard for others' feelings, and his sarcasm had changed to anger and hatred, a real intent to hurt others as much as possible with his words. Eventually, he'd even stopped hating Seru, or at least forgotten he hated them. The fact that they'd killed his father no longer mattered; if Seru could make him stronger, make him able to beat Gala, he wanted one, no matter what it cost.

Whew! Yeah, like I said, mostly back-story stuff. I like the idea of Songi being sweet in an odd, gruff sort of way when he was younger, before he grew bitter and full of hatred and became influenced by Cort. But yeah, be sure to let me know what you think! :) I hope the chapter wasn't too boring. XD

(I'm aware that I was really lazy in not writing the scene with Hari at the start properly, and I'll probably go back and fix it up at some point.)