Wow, I had this chapter but I never posted it, forgive me! (no you don't have to. : x)
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~The meeting, days before~
"You were... where?" Raine sipped her cup of warm chocolate liquid while sitting quietly in her wooden chair.
"I hope you are not troubled by this?" Kratos shifted, his stare unmoving.
"... I suppose you could say I am not... but at the same time I can't help but feel a concern after gaining another contribution to the reckless picture I have of you. After all this time, don't you think that we're trustworthy enough by now?" She quirked an eyebrow, all was shielded by the large, white mug except for her eyes.
"...Yes."
"No, I understand Lloyd's feelings towards Colette, and Genis as well... I guess I was overreacting. So, when are you and Lloyd going to go into the sewers?"
"Now."
"I see. I'll keep this a secret, then. I wish you luck."
"And I thank you for that." Kratos made a bow, stepping back with one foot, folding one arm over his chest and lowering his head.
"Don't keep Lloyd waiting." Raine reminded kindly.
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"Whoa!!" Lloyd gawked, "This is HUGE!!!!" He nearly screamed. "It's like, wAAAY bigger than--"
"The castles we've seen, built by human people..." Colette finished.
"...You've seen non-human build castles?" Jack put on a skeptical look, his mind trailed, he thought of the elf kingdom and the castles he heard of in stories. "Me too! Which ones did you see?"
"Um, we uh, traveled a lot, so it's hard to say, hehehe." Colette said.
"W-we were..." Lloyd scratched the back of his head.
"In the circus."
"...?!" Lloyd went blank as he pictured that, "...In a way... but now that you think about it we were like..." he got quieter "two elephants from one--"
"S-so yeah." Colette cut him off. "Anyway, let's party!"
"Yeah! I actually have never been to a party before since Zelos..."
"Oh yeah," Colette looked up and poked her finger to her bottom lip, "That's right, that dinner party and then after we defeated... uh..."
"Y-yeah..." Lloyd and Colette turned from Jack who seemed to be contemplating about something in particular as he stared up at the castle.
"Hey." a guard stopped them, "You need an invitation to get in."
"Well, we happen to have one." Lloyd grinned, motioning to Jack, who reached into his pocket and pulled it out.
"Yep! here you go!" he said, smirking at the guard.
"This is...!" The guards eyes widened. "I... please come in." he stepped aside form the large, towering gates.
"Cool!" Lloyd was cheering to himself and to Colette about their victory as they entered.
As they walked in, they stared around the entrance hall. It looked like it was a mile high and almost as wide, with marble columns lining the long red carpet that guided one to the very end where a giant door frame stood, a man with a short haircut and orange attire, with a green sash across the front stood beside it to the left.
when they reached the end, Jack stepped forward. "Hey, pops."
"Oh, you came." He smiled. "Ridley is waiting for you in the ballroom on the sixth floor." he told them simply.
Colette seemed to have a sudden fascination with the way his interestingly placed mustache moved when he spoke.
"....Hee hee..." she narrowed her eyes and smiled to herself. "So funny..." she started grinning.
The man gave her a strange look before they moved on.
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After what seemed like hours of Lloyd and Jack complaining in unison...
"Are we there, yet?"
"This is taking forever!"
"Whoa! Hi mister guard man! your outfit is shiny!"
"You two certainly complain a lot." Said a familiarly fluent voice from behind them. They all froze in their tracks.
"Huh?" Jack turned around to face the man. "Wh..."
"I didn't expect to see you here, Lloyd." Zelos raised an eyebrow, placing his hands on his hips and looking from him to Colette. "Ah! My sweet little angel!" he swooned suddenly putting on a face of surprise and utter happiness. "I thought I had lost you, I missed you, honey!" he pranced forward with open arms.
Colette smiled and stepped forward at him, "Hi, Zelos!"
"Zelos, huh? Iii've... never seen you before." Jack trailed, wondering forward and circling around to examine the man. "you guys all know each other?" he furrowed his eyebrows.
"U-uh, kind of." Lloyd rubbed the back of his head, thinking.
"Zelos is our best friend!" Colette blurted, bouncing up and down.
"The question is." Lloyd cut off Jack, "Why are you here?"
"?"
"Why it's simple!" Zelos beamed, "I'm the best knight here and I was promoted really fast!" he bragged.
"You're sure quick to tell of your accomplishments... it sounds pretty cool to be at a high rank so fast..."
"Yeah, but my last title was way better." Zelos shrugged.
"??"
"Hah... yeah, the king here should be like... bowing down." Lloyd Laughed.
"Wait." Jack interrupted, glaring and stepping up, "How is that even possible?" he said challengingly. "My father is legendary, Everyone expects me to surpass even him, I could beat someone like you."
"Oh really?" Zelos smiled.
"It seems easy enough, you seem like an idiot."
Zelos let his eyes reduce to slits, leaning forward and saying in a low tone, "Well maybe one day you can beat me. I doubt it. But you know... even if you do," he glanced over at the brown-haired swordsman to Jack's right. "You'll Never beat Lloyd." he said.
"... That's all I have to say." he shrugged with a smirk, turning away from Jack and continuing down the hall. "Oh and by the way," he shouted back. "Ridley's dress looks really lovely this evening... I would say that her beauty intrigues me..." he held a faint upward curve of his lips as he stared dreamily at them. "I think I'm in love!" he pranced down out of sight while bounding up a flight of stairs to the left.
"Idiot." Lloyd gave the red-haired philanderer a look of disbelief.
"What?!" Jack's eyes were wide, his mouth opened and he looked absolutely enraged, "Th-that PERVERT! You'll NEVER get Ridley, I won't let you!!"
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"It sure is really fancy in here..." Lloyd commented, his eyes scrolling about the ceiling and examining the glass and golden chandeliers.
"They look like the fireworks..." Jack said, suddenly in awe as he stared up at them as well.
"They're so pretty!" Colette clapped. "They look like a spell that the professor would cast!" she beamed.
"?"
"Yeah!" He stepped forward with his eyes closed "Ray!" he quoted, punching forward eagerly.
'Ugh!" Grunted a femininely male voice.
Before Lloyd, on the floor lay a man with silver hair and a really long cowlick that hung passed his chin.
"Oh, sorry." Lloyd apologized sheepishly to the man who he had accidentally punched, looking down at the man who stood on his own, not taking Lloyd's hand and brushed himself off sharply and in quick strokes.
"So, who are you?" Lloyd tried to lighten his mood.
"What?!" He was about to turn from Lloyd but changed his mind upon hearing him speak, "You little imbecile! You don't even know my name and you're at one of the most notoriously desired to be attended parties in all of Radiata?!"
"Obviously." Jack sighed. "He hasn't been in Radiata for a long time." he said.
"Silence, pest. Now, do you think I care? Maybe you shouldn't be here if you can't mind your manners, you're not even dressed for a richer party such as this." he grimaced and scowled down at Lloyd in disgust.
Lloyd raised both his eyebrows in realization, "Oh, I get it now."
"Hmph." Cross made a satisfied and superior scoff at him with his chin raised and his arms crossed.
"You're just another one of those arrogant, ignorant idiots that we seem to be running into all too often, you know... you could at least pretend that you're not one of them, you'd be making less of an ass of yourself" giving a friendly smile, Lloyd looked Cross straight in the eyes challengingly.
Cross's mouth hung open for a moment and he stared in wild disbelief, "Are you mad, child?!" he clenched his teeth and brought his hand immediately to the hilt of his sword.
"See? what did I tell you? You're making an ass of yourself regardless, losing control of our temper." Lloyd sighed and shook his head."
"You're the one who will be embarrassed in the end, you fool." Cross slowly drew his sword and pointed it at Lloyd, he made a fast swing for him, but even faster, Lloyd seen it coming and drew his blade quicker than Cross could blink and was knocking his strike right back at him.
"Ugh!" Cross grunted, being blown backwards almost brutally but Lloyd was sure to calculate the angle so that Cross was still on his feet.
"Huh..." Lloyd blinked, taking note of his dazed Cross seemed to be, "wow, you're really not very strong." He furrowed his eyebrows and put his blade away. He ignored the fact that a crowd had gathered around them.
"H-Hyaa!" Cross gathered himself and started charging forward at Lloyd again, Lloyd easily side-stepped it and turned, Cross rushed to the side and faced Lloyd, sending the hilt of his sword thrusting into the direction of Lloyd's lower back.
"Oops." Lloyd put himself forward and dodged it, pushing Cross along and putting him off balance. "I see, you shouldn't have put so much into that thrust, you'd have been able to catch yourself." Lloyd noted, as Cross collapsed onto the floor, but he couldn't swallow his pride, he got back up and made a move for Lloyd again.
"Lloyd!" Colette's eyes widened and she put her hands over her mouth.
"There he is!" guards from the sides started swarming in and surrounded them. "You're the trouble maker here! State your name, kid!"
"Who, me?" Lloyd glared, "But I didn't do anything, he attacked me!" he put his thumb to his chest and went into an offensive pose, the knights instinctively put their large shields up in front of them. Lloyd sighed, shaking his sadly at the lack of courage they showed.
"L-look, kid! if you don't state your name, you'll become a wanted criminal and you'll be thrown in the dungeon with all the other swine!" One tried to act confident but when Lloyd looked his way, he started cowering behind his shield again.
Sighing and slapping his own fore-head while finally just hammering Cross in the back of the neck with his sword's hilt, knocking him out, Lloyd spun around to see that he was completely surrounded from all sides now.
xxx
from afar
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"What's happening?" Ridley wondered aloud to the well-dressed woman standing beside her.
"Don't fret upon it, darling, it doesn't concern us." the woman was tall, with long, twisted Scarlett hair that ran down from her right shoulder. She held a rose-colored fan with indigo fur lining the edge of it, that she batted before her face monotonously.
"Yes, of course, but..." Ridley stared forward and watched as some people made their way through the crown, people dressed in white, carrying Cross Ward, her fiance, towards the door carefully. He was unconscious and looked like he had been dramatically swept by something extreme.
"Cross?" Her eyebrows lowered over her eyes now in confusion and a raging curiosity. "What's..." she took that as an excuse to jog towards the scene. "Jack?" She whispered to herself, watching, still from afar as Lloyd was being escorted out of the room, followed by Colette and someone she didn't think would really even show up.
Jack stood off to the side sort of. like he wasn't exactly involved, but he was obviously seeming stressed or irritated by it's occurrence, he was holding his tongue, aware of the obvious outnumberment that swarmed about. Ridley was blockaded from approaching him by the solid wall of knights that marched along the area, but she could just see through the spaces in between their armors.
Wordlessly, Ridley watched him leave, she could feel something bubble up inside of her, she felt angry, sad, longing, upset by his lack of presence now.
Unsatisfied, she clenched her fists, no concern for the obnoxious silver-haired man had struck her. She was now certain of a decision she would make.
"Banish him, men..." Cross groaned, rousing in his sleep and shifting his head with the back of his hand draped over his eyes. "He must be taken... ugh! Care of..."
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Vareth
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"You're quite the knowledgeable one, miss Sage." A professor noted, he was short, his mustache was long and white, his eyes were serious looking under thick, ruffled brows. He had a hat that reached up by another three and a half heads, colored a velvet crimson and ended in a globe that spun as he spoke, rather than a normal point. His robe was the same color as his hat and reached down to the floor, split from each- other, under it he had a long thick-looking cloth-material of white, equal in length.
"Does this bother you?" Raine asked, observing the obvious tension that roused in the man's aura.
"Hmmm." His voice was ancient, it filled the now-empty room with it's low vibration and struck a silence as the last student finally emptied out of it. "So you've caught on to me, miss Sage" he brought a steady hand up to the bottom of his chin like every motion was destined, rubbing, now, with two fingers down from the base of his mustache.
"Of course not." Raine brushed off his words effortlessly and repositioned herself in her chair to get more comfortable. She lifted the book in her hands a little higher to shield the small smile that played on her lips.
"I..." he looked, in his mind for but a moment to search for the suited word, "have reason to believe that you're not from this world, Miss Sage." his voice rumbled quietly, and the door he stood before slowly started to shut.
Raine paused for but a moment, she looked up at him and met his serious eyes, taking in the knowingly dark look that flickered behind them. "I'm very flattered you think so, but you can't always win someone's heart with such compliments though, Curtis." Raine chose her words carefully, sure not to anger him or indicate anything.
"And you're not exactly the race we believe you are, some sort of elf, but you're still human." he said in a rasp once more, rubbing, again, his mustache.
"Ah, nothing gets passed you, I see." Raine chuckled, trying to make humor out of his words.
"You are... another kind of elf I presume."
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about, Curtis." lowering her book some, Raine stared at him again over the rim of her small reading glasses.
"You probably don't even need those," he hummed again, indicating the glass wear on her face.
"Of course I do, what are you talking about?" Raine was putting on the act of a mature handling of nonsense, sighing and adjusting them so that they were more over her eyes which they weren't before. "I think you may be tired, Professor."
"No." Curtis lifted a hand in firm defense, "I am well rested, but maybe you should be telling me exactly how old you really are."
"Old enough to be a teacher here."
"And still look so young."
"Well, I really am fortunate, aren't I?" Raine narrowed her eyes and attempted resuming her book when a force pulled her book down before her. She was unaffected by it and just gave in, giving the man full attention.
"That's an interestingly different magic." Raine commented.
"Ah, so you speak of your differences, whilst you had before-claimed to be of this world."
"I think your magic is interesting." Raine made a small shrug, crossing her legs in her chair as she spoke.
"Maybe we could discuss you learning it." Curtis suggested, "After you tell me who you are."
"You do have my real name." Raine said.
"How do I know that you're not a sort of threat to Vareth?" he asked, "I actually have many things I must tell you of." he waved to the closed door. "Would you like to go elsewhere? I will never again speak of what you say to me after wards, you have my word." he promised.
"... Why are you so confident that I'm from another world?"
"Your typically nonchalant reaction."
"Hm." Raine chuckled lightly, "I see, you're a knowledgeable one as well." she put a folded-over finger to her bottom lip in thought, "...very well, if you want to talk, so be it. Where to?"
"My study." In a swift movement, Curtis turned and was walking out of a door that had opened for him.
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