PART ONE - The Tome of Larissa LeLouch
When the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were united again, Kratos had made his decision to leave it all behind him and take what was left of Cruxis with him. Once he said goodbye to his son for the final time, Lloyd, using the powers of the Eternal Sword, sent Kratos up to the nearby comet and…
Kratos looked around. He certainly hadn't landed anywhere in Derris-Kharlan that he could remember. He found himself amid some kind of thin forest. The mana was stranger than anything else he'd ever felt before. Was this the form of Derris-Kharlan once Mithos' hold over it had fallen? No, couldn't be. There were no angels around, either. It seemed to be another world all together.
After walking a bit more, he noticed there were no monsters in this forest, either. He was stopped by a group of spirits before reaching a field outside the line of trees.
"You have come," the spirits said together. "The summoning worked."
"What do you mean by 'summoning'?" Kratos asked.
"A young witch cast a spell calling one that fits your description," was the reply. "You have the qualities that she requested be found. We found you."
"This doesn't make any sense."
"It doesn't make much sense to me, either," another young man said from the side. "I was falling through time and space, and I landed here."
The spirits then came together and formed a young woman's figure. "Both of you were going between worlds by the way of magic. It was easier to pull you here that way, than by directly out of your dimensions. The world you are now in is not the same as the one you were called from. You can tell by looking at each other, your cultures are different."
Kratos looked at his new acquaintance who's short wispy brown hair and blue-green eyes seemed a little different than anything he'd seen in Aselia. His clothing was more than strange, with a collar of feathers surrounding his neck, and black material from head to toe. Not that this young man didn't find his attire strange, with a purple spandex-like outfit and a cape. The only thing they really seemed to have in common was owning weaponry. On Kratos' left arm was an ornate shield, and his right hip had a sword hanging. The newcomer had some sort of weapon Kratos had never seen before strapped across his belt. He could tell the technology in that world must have been far more advanced than that of Aselia's.
"The two of you know the ones that called you, though you may not know them now," the spirits explained. "It has been quite a while since the spells were cast. You have gone through significant adventures which may or may not prepare you for what will happen here. There are no monsters, there are no dungeons. The fights here are not physical, they are emotional. Your weapons will not serve any purpose here."
The brown haired young man to the left shook his head. "Is there any way back to the world that I came from?" he asked. "Is this some sort of trial for us to undertake before we can return home?"
"That is up to the ones that cast the spells in the first place. I cannot answer that."
Kratos crossed his arms. "Who called us here?" he asked. "Once we find them, perhaps we can find out more."
"I explained to you all ready that you will know them when you see them," the spirit replied. "But you are not fitting to explore this world in your current gear. I will turn your current clothing into clothing of this world so that you may not cause unwanted attention." She concentrated her powers so that Kratos' armor and cape turned into a classy button up shirt with a purple scarf and Squall's over-done coat became a black hoodie. "It isn't what you're used to, but it will work." She started to vanish. "Seek out the Tome of Larissa LeLouch, and there you will have some answers as to the powers that called you here." With that, she was gone, leaving the two warriors to themselves.
"We won't find anyone just staying here," Kratos said quietly.
"Agreed."
"I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Kratos. I am a mercenary."
"My name is Squall, and I'm part of an organization of mercenaries."
"All right then," Kratos said. "Let's go see what we can find."
At that time, in the middle of town, the two sisters were having lunch at a local delicatessen. The sun had reached the top of the sky, and many people were enjoying the spring breeze. Except, of course, Ran, who's allergies made it impossible to do much of anything.
"This really isn't what I had in mind when I said 'go out to lunch'," Ran said, blowing her all ready red nose for the umpteenth time that day. "I meant maybe a sit down place inside would've been more appropriate."
"Oh hush and eat your club," Ash retorted. "The breeze feels nice."
"It carries pollen from about five thousand flowers," Ran said. "Forget how it feels."
It took a few moments for the wind to shift directions, which caught Ash's attention. She looked around, as something didn't feel right. "Do you feel something weird?" she asked aloud, unable to sit still.
"You were the one who said to be quiet and eat," Ran said, doing her best to ignore her senses.
"I haven't felt magic in ages," Ash continued. "Not since we…"
Ran kept eating, her eyes scanning the scenery evenly. The city was bustling, as usual, full of people talking, cars zooming by, the tall buildings casting their shadows much like an ancient Greek sundial. Nothing seemed too unusual, until she noticed in the direction of the nearby park, two curious men walking together as if they were lost. Each bite she took, she stared more and more at them, as if she knew them from somewhere. Once she had devoured her entire sandwich, she stood up, then sneezed loudly.
"You see something," Ash said. "You only get like that when you notice something unusual. You can't hide your powers of clairvoyance from me, and you know it."
"In the direction of the park," Ran replied rashly. "Two strangers. Lost. It's the only thing I can see around here that's even the slightest bit strange. Before this creepy feeling gets out of hand, we should probably go and see what may be wrong. Who knows? They could just be tourists."
Ash found herself laughing. "Tourists don't wear hoodies," she said. "Or collared dress shirts."
"They don't really seem to be of the same social group, so it's very strange that they would be together," Ran said, stretching her legs. "Because I doubt they're gay."
"Why do you say that? And how did you even come to that kind of thing anyway?"
"Too much yaoi manga," she replied. "Just ignore me."
Ash pulled her sister over to their car. "Leave this to me, okay?" she said, opening the driver's door.
"Only if you turn of your horrible music," Ran snapped, climbing in to the passenger's side.
Kratos and Squall had found their way out of the forested recreational area and to a major modern city street. They seemed to be wandering aimlessly, looking at all the buildings that stood overhead. "I've never seen structures so tall," Kratos said. "Not ones that normal people could access."
Squall was less surprised than Kratos. Some of these things he had seen before. Cars weren't strange to him at all, neither were radios or projectors they had seen in store windows as they walked by. He was in the middle of explaining to Kratos what some of these technological items were when Ash pulled her car up to the sidewalk and stuck her head out the window.
"Excuse me, boys," she said as politely as she could, "You seem a little lost."
"Lost?" Squall asked, turning around to find Ash there with a half-smile. "To tell the truth, we are new in town." He looked at her for a few moments, then shook his head. What was this odd feeling? "My friend Kratos and I are looking for something, but we've seemed to become a bit sidetracked."
Ran was flipping through a book when she heard that name. "Kratos. A Greek name, meaning strength." She hadn't bothered looking out the window to talk to either of them, as men didn't hold her interest anymore. "In fact, there was a demi-God named Kratos. He had a sister, Nike, the goddess of victory; and a brother, Zelos. Could you be a reincarnation of a demi-God?"
Kratos blushed. It had been a while since he dealt with another bookish type, and remembering his past encounters, he just wanted to keep his trap shut. When he started to talk, all he could manage was incoherent stuttering, which prompted Ran's quiet laugh.
"You need not stand on ceremony," Ran said. "I was kidding."
"Excuse my rudeness," Kratos said, "I didn't mean to…"
It had also been ages since he was teased by a woman.
Ash just smiled. "Well, we can take you where you need to go, provided you know what you're looking for."
"That would be nice," Squall said. "May I?" he motioned toward the backseat of her car, and she just nodded. "Kratos, we should."
"Agreed," Kratos said, and the two got in through the back seats so that Ash could pull out of where she had parked.
They got to a stoplight a few blocks down the road, when Kratos finally got a good look at the quiet, bookish Ran, who hadn't given either one of the boys a second glance. Based on his previous experiences, he realized she was going to be more absorbed in studying than she was talking to the company around her. He watched her as she was reading, absorbing the contents with her diligent concentration.
Ash finally broke the silence as she asked, "So, where are the two of you off to, anyway?"
"We're looking for a specific book," Squall explained. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Squall."
"Nice to meet you, Squall," Ash said. "I'm Ashley. My friends call me Ash. This bookworm over here is my antisocial older sister, Randi."
Ran just rose her hand, but didn't say anything.
Kratos bowed his head carefully. "I am Kratos," he explained.
"A book?" Ran asked aloud. "Bookstores are close by at the shopping center if you want modern books. Libraries are more toward the inner parts of the city, in the opposite directions. Is it a new book, or old book?"
"If you want books of any kind," Ash said with a big smile. "My sister has a huge library of books of all kinds."
"If we invite them over to look through our library, we'll also need to cook them dinner. And explain them to Mom and Dad." Ran said sharply.
Ash leaned over to Ran and whispered in her ear, "No, I think these are the ones."
Ran shook her head. "Oh no, no, no."
"Why not?"
"Because I told you, I am not even going to bother with that ever again."
"Oh tell me you didn't see the red hair, classy clothes, and hear that voice of his," Ash whispered. "He's the one you asked for."
"Bullshit," Ran said out loud, shocking the guys in back. "I never should have listened to you."
"Well, now you have to deal with it," Ash said. "What's the harm, anyway?"
Ran started to make her very obvious angry retort, when she sneezed and got snot all in her hands. With nothing to wipe them on, she looked at her hands with resentment. Now she couldn't go back to her book and pretend not to care. It was when she started to feel her anger mount at the situation when a hand touched her shoulder. When she turned to look behind her, Kratos took off his purple scarf and started to wipe her hands off. "Hey, you don't have to-"she said, starting to pull away.
"I'm sorry we've caused you an inconvenience," Kratos said quietly, finally speaking directly to her. "I know you were really interested in what you were reading, and you're the type that could never soil a good book, right?"
The sweat that covered Ran's face caused her glasses to droop off the bridge of her nose. "You're right," she agreed. She couldn't see clearly, but he was at just enough distance for her far-sighted eyes to be clear in her vision. For the first time that she could remember, she felt her heart skip a beat. Ran wanted to reach out and hold around him and keep him all to herself.
Ash saw it on her face. She was more than right. Once the longest red light in the history of the city had changed, she put the car in gear and took off for their house out in the country. She was going to have a field day with this once they got home.