AN: I'm getting very tired of how anal retentive you people are about your personal interpretations of each character and how I'm not adhering to them. The more people wall-o-text me the more disinclined I am to continue writing this story. I appreciate that you love these characters, but please keep in mind that this fanfic is not meant as a commentary or in-depth exploration of the TOS series or Tales franchise. It's merely a product of my demented desire to torture fictional people and I am offering you the chance to read along as a means of entertainment. As the author of this particular story, I have the right to interpret the characters how I want to, and while I'm striving to keep them as IC and true to the games as possible, I want to explore other options with them. I am as entitled to my interpretations as you are to yours.
If you don't like the story, go away.
Chapter 27
"That just leaves transportation," Regal said.
"Ivar and I have wyverns," Emil said.
Genis said, "I have my rheaird."
"As do I," Zelos said.
"You're going to Elympios," Emil said, shaking his head. "You won't be able to use it there. No ambient mana to recharge it with."
Zelos squinted at him. "What a terrible place Elympios must be."
"No kidding," Alvin agreed and rolled his eyes.
"So how are we going to get there anyway?" Tiger asked.
"I'll call a winged dragon for you to ride," Emil said after a moment of consideration. Hopefully there was one around fairly close. "You'll use the portal Ratatosk and Maxwell created."
Zelos nodded. "All right. Then I'll give my rheaird to Aster."
Aster straightened. "But - I don't know how to fly one of those things!"
Tipping his head, Zelos lifted a brow, "You really want Richter flying in his condition?"
Emil glanced at the redhead to find his head tipped to the side, resting against the back of the chair, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. Richter's skin was pale, dark circles under his eyes and a general air of unhealth. Unsure of when that had happened, Emil stifled the urge to whisper, since apparently the noise wasn't bothering him. He couldn't quite believe that Richter wasn't going to die at any moment, or perhaps wasn't already dead, except when his lashes or fingers twitched in his sleep.
Looking down at Richter, Aster sighed and shook his head. "I guess you're right. You'll just have to show me how to use it."
"It's pretty easy. Even that idiot Lloyd figured it out." Zelos flipped his hair away from his shoulder.
Aster nodded, then looked uncertain briefly.
Richter sat up straight with a wild look in his eyes. Everyone froze.
Immediately moving into his view, Aster touched Richter's hands lightly. "I'm here, Richter. I'm still here. It's all right."
The tension in the room was practically palpable until the redhead seemed to recognize Aster and relaxed back in his chair. "Can't stay awake for anything," he muttered, rubbing his forehead, his other hand moving to gently press against his chest as he sat back.
"Are you in pain?" Jude asked.
"No. What did I miss?"
"Nothing important," Zelos said, compassion coloring his voice. "We'll get out of your room now..." He glanced around at the others.
Emil nodded and took Marta's hand, heading into the hall with her. Everyone except Jude and Aster followed him out.
"Richter is such a liar," Marta whispered, glancing towards the closed door.
"Liar?" Sheena asked.
"He's in pain," Emil said, "He's just so used to it I guess."
"He's not even suffering for any reason," Marta glared at the door. "Why try to hide it?"
Zelos lifted his hands. "A man's gotta have his pride... especially after a loss like that."
"Loss?" Ivar asked. "But we didn't lose? Lord Ratatosk and Lady Milla closed the demons out, right?"
Jude and Aster stepped out, the latter closing the door quietly behind him. "Okay, Zelos," Aster said, "Show me how to fly a rheaird!"
Tiger cringed. "I can't believe people are actually excited about those things."
As a group, they got into the elevator and headed downstairs. Ratatosk at least waited until they were outside to call Ventus. Then the Centurion of wind appeared, Emil turned to him and asked, "Could you bring a winged dragon large enough for three people to ride? Or if not that then two, please? They're for Zelos, Alvin, and Tiger."
Ventus's windy bird-form bowed its head. "Yes Lord Emil," he said and disappeared.
"Lord Emil," Ivar said, "Our wyverns are cleaned and ready to ride anytime."
Emil winced. "I completely forgot about Judith... thank you."
Ivar grinned and posed proudly. "That's what a Handmaid is for!"
He led the way to the docks where the two wyverns had been nesting on a pier, spread out across the hot boards and generally looking lazy. Judith's head popped up as she heard Emil's steps approaching.
Sheena squeaked a little and moved closer behind Ivar. "They're so big," she whispered. "I wasn't expecting them to look quite like that..."
He looked back at her, puzzled. "What else would they look like? They're wyverns."
"I'm not sure what I was expecting, actually," Sheena admitted. She ended up standing beside Marta as Emil and Ivar got the wyvern's saddled. Emil glanced their direction as Marta knocked back her anti nausea pill and swallowed from her canteen.
Emil pulled Marta up in front of him after mounting and put his arms around her when she turned her face against his neck.
"I love you," she whispered. "Sorry about yesterday."
"No, don't apologize. I had no idea how to make you feel better..."
"It still hurts. I'll miss him. But I know he would want me to live and make the world a better place."
"Are you ready to go, Lord Emil?" Ivar asked.
Looking over, he found that Ivar had Sheena mounted behind him, her arms around his waist and breasts pressed against his back. Where the silver-haired man had seemed completely oblivious to her proportions before, he had certainly noticed them now, as evidenced by his wild eyes and pink cheeks.
Marta giggled softly. "I'm ready," she said.
"All right." Emil nudged Judith and both he and Marta leaned in close to her back as she launched into the sky, briefly skimming across the crests of the waves before taking to a higher altitude when she hit an updraft. Circling up into the clouds, Emil got his bearings on the landscape and turned towards where the Tower of Regeneration used to stand.
Ivar's mount caught up with them a few minutes later, he was built more for stamina than speed or tricks as Judith was wont to do.
"...Summon Ratatosk?" Sheena asked.
Emil glanced over curiously, finding Ivar and Sheena apparently in conversation. "Didn't know I could..." he said and the wind covered whatever else they were talking about.
"I hope Martel isn't angry," Emil said and sighed.
"She's going to have to deal with it. This is the solution we have arrived at given the problems we were handed."
"Yes, but I'm sure she would have liked to have been asked before we just went ahead and did whatever we wanted."
"I don't see why she would be," Marta said.
Shaking his head, Emil tightened his arms around Marta. "How do you feel about me and Ratatosk?" he decided to ask. It had been bothering him since he had seen her grooming the Summon Spirit.
"I love you."
"Both of us?"
She looked back at him and gently cupped his cheek. "Yes." Her eyes turned sad. "Please don't tell me you're going to make me choose."
"No, of course not," Emil hurried to say. "I just... I don't know. I guess I just wanted to understand..."
Marta leaned against his chest, her hands caressing down his arms. "I love you both," she said. "For different reasons. And I can't pick one of you over the other because you're... You. One being and two bodies and I understand that you have separate feelings and often disagree. But you came from the same source and you're both wonderful. And I know that you both would move whole mountains for me."
"This is true," Ratatosk admitted. "What Emil cannot bring himself to say is that he is worried he is taking your attention away from me if it is me you love more."
"Oh Emil," Marta turned and kissed him. "No. I love you both. I love whatever time I get to spend with either one of you... I kind of wish Ratatosk was around more often in his own form. So I could hug you both."
Emil and Ratatosk leaned in, gently claiming Marta's lips, then laid their forehead against hers. "We'll find a balance if that is what you wish," Ratatosk said. "Your joy is our joy. We wish to fill your life with happiness."
"I feel like we've failed on that score," Emil added. "These last few weeks have been awful."
"You asked me to marry you, Emil," Marta said. "That made me incredibly happy."
"You should ask her too," Emil suggested.
"You're sure? You... wouldn't mind?"
"She loves both of us."
"Then would you consent to marry me as well?" Ratatosk asked.
Marta's eyes widened and she smiled. "Yes. I would be honored, Ratatosk."
"I shall find an appropriate gift to signify this arrangement as soon as possible." He looked ahead to find that they were nearing their destination and guided Judith lower. The wind of her passage rustled the tops of the trees, then they were over the ruins of the tower. A mist cloaked the center of the ruins, kicked up from a waterfall that had been created by the explosion that had destroyed the tower.
Judith circled, looking for a good landing spot and finally picked a grassy hill. She landed, sending flower petals reeling into the sky with the backwash from her wings. Ivar set down nearby and Sheena gracefully dropped into the grass. "So you don't even have to restrain them?" she asked.
"No, I always had an affinity to talk to monsters," Ivar said, "So I never had to pen my wyvern up. He comes when I call him." The swordsman sprang down to land beside Sheena.
Emil dismounted and caught Marta when she hopped down. Not that she needed the help, but he knew she liked the attention. Fog rolled in around them, but Ratatosk could sense the World Tree and the flow of mana, weak as it was, a short distance away. He took Marta's hand and started walking. He glanced back to see that Sheena was leading Ivar. She apparently was having no trouble navigating through the mists.
Suddenly the mists lifted, revealing an oasis of dewy grass with a tree growing in the center. Two figures stood near the tree, the taller of which wore a stern expression.
"Now you show up?" Yuan asked.
Emil felt himself get shoved back as Ratatosk took over. "Now I had the opportunity to show up," he retorted. "You expect that I should completely ignore the massive demon tear in the sky to come running to you and beg permission to use what resources I have available to fix the situation?"
"You could have sent a Centurion to me," Martel suggested.
"Do you even know what that battlefield looked like?" Ratatosk demanded. "You could have sent your Handmaid to me when you felt what I was doing. Yet you didn't. Why would that be, I wonder?" He stepped closer, causing Yuan to move into a protective stance. "I hazard its because you didn't know what could be done, isn't that right?"
Martel strode towards him, past her guardian, her staff thumping the ground as she came to stand toe to toe with him. "And mixing our mana with that of another world? That was the best idea you could come up with? That world is sick as well!"
"That world is protected by Maxwell and there is a chance that all three worlds can be saved," Ratatosk stared down his nose at her.
"Hilarious." Yuan folded his arms. "You can't have changed that much. Why do you care about two worlds that you hardly know anything about?"
"Is it so hard to imagine?" Ratatosk asked. "Perhaps I have become fond of a few people from those worlds. Who are you to judge me for that?"
"When it might put our world in danger, I have a problem with it," Yuan said.
"You assume nothing good can come of it. Yet ask Martel whether that man is completely useless or not." Ratatosk jabbed a finger back at Ivar.
Martel ticked her chin up and stepped back slightly so she could see Ivar. "Yuan..." she said, voice softening. "He produces mana..." She glided past Ratatosk to circle Ivar curiously. "I see," Martel said softly. She turned to look at Ratatosk again. "You realize the World Tree has nearly been drained by the mana thief." She leaned in close to Ivar, head tilting in curiosity.
"The spyrix," Ratatosk said. "I'm aware."
"There is a danger of it dying," Martel said. "Soon, especially if it is forced to carry the fate of three worlds." She straightened and turned to look at Ratatosk. "So you plan on sacrificing this man to boost the World Tree."
Ivar yelped and stepped back in shock. Sheena cried an objection.
Ratatosk burst out laughing. "Interesting idea, but wasteful and would yield only marginal results compared to what could actually be achieved."
Emil could see that Ratatosk had Yuan, Martel, and something else's full attention now, perhaps the World Tree itself.
"Well, what is your plan then?" Yuan asked.
"There's a whole world full of people like Ivar. People who produce mana naturally. By tying them into the mana flow of Aselia, it will begin circulating the stagnant mana from Rieze Maxia through Elympios and Aselia. All that is left to complete this is to link the World Tree to Maxwell's spirit realm."
"That would solve the problem... eventually," Yuan said.
Martel paced around Ratatosk, her brow rising. "You are smiling like a cat that is up to no good."
"I would need to complete part one of my plan before anything else could even begin to work." Ratatosk folded his arms. "You will agree to unifying the mana flows of all three worlds?"
"And letting you into the link with the World Tree," Yuan said.
"That would be a requirement, yes." Ratatosk looked at his nails.
"I agree," Martel said. She moved to the tree and placed her hand against it. For a moment, there was silence, then she turned partially to look at Ratatosk. "Come forward."
Stepping closer, he held out his hand and a root whipped up out of the ground, wrapping around his shin instead, squeezing so tightly Emil was afraid his leg might break. He felt another presence in his mind. It was old, green, but at the same time, childish. It spoke without words, but its intentions were to challenge Ratatosk.
"Mithos Yggdrasil," Ratatosk greeted.
The tree was not pleased.
"You were the ones who tricked me," Ratatosk felt compelled to point out.
Emil felt the root tighten. "Please don't break me!" he objected. "I know you two don't have a very good history, but keep in mind this is my body Ratatosk is using?"
The root slackened slightly, but the World Tree was still distrustful.
"I have no intention of destroying you. You tricked me in the past, but that is in the past and we have both changed since then. I will overlook what you did for the sake of putting the world right."
"What he means to say," Emil said firmly, "Is that he forgives you, but he's too arrogant to admit it."
A barrier between them crumbled, bringing Ratatosk into contact with the flow of mana through the World Tree itself.
"As you can see, there is very little mana left in the world," Martel said through her connection to the World Tree. "I'm not sure what can be done before all life dies, even combining the mana I can feel present on Rieze Maxia. What is the rest of your plan?"
Ratatosk was already distracted working on pulling his connection to Maxwell through and linking it with the World Tree, leaving Emil to explain about Aster's invention.
"A weapon?" Martel asked.
"Only for now. He's looking for a way to make it into something more useful. We'll have results in a few days."
"He might not have a few days," Martel said.
Emil felt the blood drain from his face.
"The mana from the time warp will run out soon... All those that were brought back by it will return. Including..."
"Including who?" Ratatosk demanded, his attention suddenly back on Martel and the World Tree.
Cold and ill, Emil could almost feel a memory welling up - something he or Ratatosk had tried to repress.
"...no..." Ratatosk denied.
But it made sense. Emil's fingers curled into his palms, nails biting flesh as he tried to contain himself.
...
AN: I don't like telling people to go away. I really don't, but a fanfic isn't worth my sanity.