Disclaimer: I do not own Shadow Hearts.

SHADOW HEARTS: A NOVELIZATION

Chapter One

(Yuri's POV)

(SOUTH MANCHU, CHINA – 1913)

FINE! I WILL! I'll get on that train! And which woman do you want me to protect, huh?

(Damn voice.)

Covering myself with a thin blanket, I gave a quick huff at the new situation at hand here.

Now where the heck's that woman the voice was talking about?

(Damn vague voice.)

I examined my surroundings – rows of velvet red seats, open to occupancy. Polished wood floor. Windows displaying sceneries and trees that zoomed by in a blur.

Luxury cars… are pretty boring.

And this… is pretty boring.

But then again, I'm not used to fancy-schmancy settings. And a fancy steam train, to boot (I'm used to walking around, unless I need to get to some place quicker). Even so, I would've at least expected there to be some people. The quiet coughing of an old lady faded away into the other train car, and a single grunt of a tired officer was a few feet ahead.

Speaking of officers, for a special luxury car that belonged to the Japanese army, their defense was pretty weak. Either that or my sneaking was getting pretty good.

(I'd like to call the second one, but the annoying voice hasn't been giving me orders in a long time, and the apathy of the officers is dang obvious – every one of them in my car is sleeping.)

Hmph. It's past midnight (er, I think – I'm kinda lousy at tracking time) and they're already dozing off.

I sighed. For a moment I considered getting some shut-eye too (haven't slept in… I can't even remember. See, what did I told you about tracking time?), but I remembered if I did, that voice would give me no end to nagging, and I'd have another migraine.

So I tried to keep myself busy by staring out the window. (Nothing better to do, anyway.) The moon rode along with me on the glass, running across the black sky to keep up with the train's chuffing. The engine was probably loud as hell if a guy were standing outside in the countryside, but inside it was quiet as a mouse.

Click, click, click…

Wait – mice don't click their heels. My head snapped up at the figure walking past by me, but I only saw his back as he stopped in front of the opening door – he wore a top hat that covered most of his aging-white hair, and a formal suit with cuffs rolled up above his white gloves – and then a glimpse of his side, when he took a few steps back, extended a courteous arm, and let the old lady from the door pass. He revealed himself to be some kind of English… whaddya call them… 'gentleman'? Pshhh.

(But still...)

I narrowed my eyes, wrapped the blanket like a hood over my head, and trailed his steps to the next car.

(… He looks suspicious.)

By the time I entered the second train car, the man was gone. The room looked exactly like the other one from before, except the guards over here were more alert. Two stood in front of the door up ahead. They were the only ones talking.

"It's already past 2300, and it's still a long way 'til Fengtian." The gruff voice belonged to one of the officers, but unlike the rest of the red-clothed army, he wore a beige suit with a star. He rubbed his bald head wearily. (Must be tired from the long train ride, I'm guessing.)

The regular officer stood next to him. He flit his eyes towards the door and lowered his head, his questions taking to a low whisper, "Major Tsugi, what is this all about? Why the special train in the middle of the night to escort this girl to Japan? She seems pretty ordinary to me…"

A girl, huh? Bingo. I took a seat in one of the chairs, my back straightened. Chances are if these officers saw a strange-looking street rat trying to get past their door, even if I covered myself with the blanket, they probably wouldn't even budge to let me through. For now, I decided to stay put. At least I know she's somewhere behind that door.

(But what about that other guy?)

"Hell if I know. There's no telling what the big-shots in Tokyo are up to." The major's uninterested snort turned into a chuckle. "Heh, next time I see you-know-who, I'll ask her, okay?"

Next time he sees who?

Things were getting pretty suspicious, alright. I pressed my ear closer against the cotton of the lavender blanket, but before the officers could speak any further, a loud yell erupted from the cars up ahead.

Suddenly, the silent air was filled with running footsteps of officers and synchronized bangs of shotguns. Quickly they lessened, and were replaced by soft 'thuds' on the floor.

"What's going on?!" the major voiced my exact thoughts, and all of the officers from the car and those behind evacuated into the rooms up ahead, where the noises were coming from. He shadowed their steps with his hand dug into his pocket's bulge of a gun. I followed too, leaving the useless blanket behind – my main concern was the girl.

(Not the girl herself, but her safety. And not 'cause I care, I mean, I've never even met the chick – but if I find out she's been shot or something in the middle of all these gun shootings the voice will batter my brains off for sure!)

The door was stuck after the major shut it. I cursed, rattling the knob as I missed part of the talking that took place behind the door.

"… It's you!" a girl spoke, whimpering. Her voice was high, shaky – afraid.

But the man's, the man's was different.

"Yes, I'm Roger Bacon…" I could feel the sinister in his words, and yet his tone was so disgustingly calm. "I'm honored that you remember me so well. You can't escape. Come along quietly…"

(Damn it, you stupid knob…!!!)

My impatience pulled my foot up and knocked the door down. The new room revealed the noisy yappers: a young Caucasian girl and the English man from before. Roger Bacon, huh?

He turned towards me as I stepped in. "Ah… a new actor in our play." He seemed amused, but I didn't find anything funny.

But the girl had noticed Bacon was distracted. She slowly backed away, her eyes carefully watching the back of his head as her feet shuffled backwards, and then tried to make a mad dash of escape. But she was too late. He grabbed her arm and held his hand in front of her face to emanate some kind of blue light in her eyes.

Whatever the glow was, it made her slump forward, unconscious into his arms. Bacon tossed the girl over his shoulders and turned to leave – he ignored me, like I was nothing but thin air, like I wouldn't be able to do anything anyway.

(But he was wrong.)

I charged forward, sprinting past the rows of velvet chairs, past the major's body that had blocked the door earlier, past all the dead bodies of the officers lying on the floor, and was going to hurtle right into the guy and beat him up all over.

… That's what I would've done, if he hadn't twisted his face to me midway running and shined a bright beam through his eyes. The blinding flash knocked my whole body over and a rapid pushing force crashed me backwards through one, two… three train cars.

I came to a complete stop. The dust finally settled and my brain stopped rattling.

I sat up amongst the pile of woods of the broken benches.

Heh.

Something tugged the corner of my lips.

Maybe luxury cars aren't so boring after all.

I NEVER KNEW how bloody the train really was until I started walking again. The decapitated heads of the dead officers, the rifles that proved useless lying in dark puddles of red – it was like a scene from a freak accident.

It reminds me of…

A chill prickled my skin. My stomach churned.

… It reminds me of that night.

I shook my head. This was not the time to get all reminiscent over what I did in the past. All I had to focus on now was protecting that girl.

The girl who was captured by Roger Bacon.

Echoed footsteps over metal ran above me. I didn't realize the cold drift in the spot I was standing until I looked up at the hole in the train ceiling. Someone had burst through and was probably making their escape right now.

(But not for long.)

Sure enough, when I jumped through the hole and kept my balance over the moving train, Bacon was only a few feet away. His tailcoat flapped in the wind, as did my trench coat, and his tall hat threatened to fly itself off into the plains' horizons.

The girl's body hung limp over his shoulders.

Bacon stopped running, and faced me.

"You're a persistent little rat, aren't you…"

That's right. They don't call me street rat for nothing.

"You ain't getting away, pops!" I shouted amongst the whistle of the wind.

He chuckled, once again taking some sort of annoying amusement from me. Damn, I hate overly confident bad guys. This fueled me more into saving that girl (and kicking his ass along the way).

"You think you can take on me?" He placed the girl down, and I ignored the peculiarity that he had set her on the ground so carefully and gingerly, like a fragile thing made out of glass, to not let her fall off.

I charged forward just like before, prepared to dodge any second bright flash, but oddly he stood in his place. Bacon's hands were folded behind his back while mine were balled into fists, desperately trying to punch him, any part of him. But he dodged, quickly and swiftly that I only met air. A few seconds and I knew there was something about him that wasn't right.

The fighting continued on like that for the next few minutes. I was frustrated as hell.

It got worse when he started hitting back.

His punches were weak, but his stamina was not. No matter how much he punched, casted spells or dodged my attacks, he never broke a sweat and was not even nearly as tired as I was.

The man was not like any other person or monster I fought. He was different. I could tell.

We moved around the top of the train constantly, shoes clattering the metal and bodies nearly losing ground. I was desperate enough to even consider using my fusion power.

But—but what if I become a monster—

No. The reason I didn't fuse into a monster wasn't because I was scared, I convinced myself. (Yeah, that's right, that's why…) It was because the girl was in the way, and Bacon's hands were no longer clasped together.

Instead, they were raised above his head as he began chanting. It was then I realized what he had been planning all this time.

Faint lines that had traced our steps on the metal turned into glowing red marks. They formed a strange symbol – some kind of insignia, or alchemy drawing, or all that other complex magician crap I hate to rattle my brain figuring out. All I knew was that the soles of my shoes were burning, like I was standing above lava.

Clouds of smoke from the hot ground darkened my vision from the next attacks. Something, or many somethings, attacked and pierced through my body like sharp little daggers. They all forced a strong shove against my chest, and if I hadn't dropped down and locked my hands and knees to the train, I would've been knocked off and rolled away into the rail tracks for sure.

I panted heavily. I had exerted myself way too much from punching and fighting to handle a big trap like this.

"Damn it…" I cursed between deep breaths, the black fog beginning to trail itself off into the wind. "I can't believe… I'm…" I couldn't finish the last sentence.

Bacon's lips curled. "You're stronger than I expected… but even if you really had transformed to a foul monster earlier, you'll still never beat me."

Monster.

How did he know?

He raised a glove, casting a ball of purple light that sucked up all the wind into its own energy.

I knew it was going to be over for me. I knew it already as I was sprawled on the floor, breathing deeply but never being able to really catch my breath. He'd release the light, I'd be blown off the car, and I'd be stuck with a face plant full of dirt and pebbles while the train would ride off into the horizon. That'd be the end.

(Pant, pant…)

But still, I hope…

(Pant, pant…)

I hope that girl…

—Wait…

I took a look closer at the girl lying a few feet between us.

That girl. She's—

Bacon noticed too. That's why he stopped the glow in his hand and stared at the girl's pendant that began to sparkle strangely. It started off as a flicker, but rapidly grew brighter, bigger, stronger – and all of a sudden, Bacon, who had been so self-assured and composed in our battle, was terrified.

"Wh-what on Earth?!" he shouted, taking a few steps back from the girl. She floated off the ground as the energy became thicker. The streaming radiance of light could probably be seen from miles away. For a moment I thought I was staring at the sun for too long.

(Normally I'd hate lights and glows and all that bright stuff due to a certain annoying battle, but…)

My eyes squinted as I tried to spot any speck of black behind the light. Then, when I was sure it was him, the person who was cringing away in horror from the girl – I quickly ran up to Bacon, and took a big punch at him square in the face.

(Thanks, Girl in Danger.)

The punch was hard enough to cave in his skull. My knuckles crushed the bones between his eye and nose.

I knew it. He isn't human.

I smirked. There was definitely a foul monster on the train, alright.

"Wha… Damn!" He clasped a glove over his left eye, blood trailing down his cheek and sputtering away in the wind. I briskly picked up the girl and jumped off the car before he could do anything else. But, looking back, it wasn't like he would've done anything anyway. He stood on the train, his back hunched and his face obscured, as it went farther away. He rode off with a nasty glare at the two of us until he disappeared.

The girl stayed in my arms, still asleep. We stood there in the middle of the plains for a moment, the full moon residing behind us, as I watched the train travel off into the distance.

The wind lingered nothing more than a gentle breeze.

To be continued.

Author's Note: Second chapter will be posted next week.