Everlasting Hope: Spirits and Demons

by UK-Underworld King

Mild-AU. The demons of Niflheim invaded and conquered the world of Aselia as a consequence of the Kharlan War. Fifty years latter, a group of special souls try to fight back the otherworldly invaders as their world slowly crumbles. Full summary inside.

31. The Stranger of Ozette

SURPRISE-SURPRISE!

This is my Christmas present for you all: a double update to close the third act! ;D MERRY CHRISTMAS MY READERS!

First, thanks for all that that included this fic in your Favorites and Alerts. I want to know your opinion on how I have been conducting this story so far. This isn't an easy project, as most of you have noticed. I have basically remade ToS's reality and hastened things (from the point of view of canon), like the time Lloyd and the others were born. So, please review so i can know what I must better and if I made any mistakes or inconsistencies, like the mentioned time of certain events and the like. I simply can't let myself rest if I have committed the former.

Anyway, here's a skit for you all. Merry Christmas again!

This is one is between Raine, Lloyd, Aqua and Ignis:

Half-elves 1

Raine *looking down* : Ozette… I never thought I would have to go to that place.

Lloyd: What's up Raine?

Raine: Oh! It's nothing.

Lloyd: Are you worried about going to Ozette?

Aqua: Well, they do have a reputation about being radically against half-elves.

Ignis: They have?

Aqua: What do you think we have been talking about up till now? What were you doing anyway?

Ignis: Oh. I spotted this cute little bunny. He looked so cute I asked our lord if he could…

Aqua *sweatdropping*: Forget I asked.

Raine: Not really. I'm more worried about what they could have done to Presea.

Lloyd: You worried their views about half-elves might have influenced her?

Raine: That's a possibility. If that happens… it would be better if I traveled afar from the group.

Lloyd: I don't think that would be fair and, anyway, we don't know if she is discriminating of half-elves yet. So we should just worry about it when the time comes.

Raine: Lloyd…

Lloyd *grinning*: And don't worry. If anything goes wrong. I will protect you. I don't let my friends get hurt.

Ignis: Yeah! Sir Lloyd is pretty strong. He won't let them hurt you, Lady Raine.

Raine: Most people would crucify you for defending a half-elf like that, you know?

Lloyd: If you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to be ashamed of. That's my moral.

Aqua: Don't you mean "motto"?

Lloyd: Yeah, that too.

Raine: Huhuhuhuh.

Lloyd: Umm… what's so funny?

Raine: You know Lloyd, if Sheena heard this conversation, she might start thinking you're actually interested in me, which would lead her to see me as a rival.

Lloyd *blushing*: Umm… well…

Raine: And maybe she has a motive to…

Lloyd *confused*: What?

Raine: Oh, nothing.

Ignis: Do you think Sir Lloyd is going to have several girls, like our Lord did?

Aqua: Yeah, but in this case, it's going to be at the same time.

Ignis *smiling*: Oh well. I'm sure it's going to be fun.

Aqua: That is, if he manages to survive…

Lloyd obtained the title "Unintended Casanova"

---

Chapter 28

The Stranger of Ozette

The "chop" followed by a "crash" echoed in the empty forest as the ax started to meticulously shorten the downed tree to a log. Holding the big ax was a fourteen year old-looking girl with pink hair arranged in pigtails and lifeless, pale-blue eyes. When the log was finally ready for transport, the girl made a small groove on it with her ax for her to drag the log back to her home… with her bare hands. She was already used to that routine.

One could even say it was relaxing, being outside with the nature and working to earn your living. However, to that girl, it all became routine in another empty day of her pathetic life. For her, she could very well be attacked by a monster or even a demon and she wouldn't offer resistance or even fight for her life. But she didn't have such luck until now. She knew her mere presence was enough to send most monsters away from her. Even the demons seemed wary of attacking the pink haired girl. However, the same could be said about people, like her neighbors and coworkers.

She grabbed the grove made on the log and started to drag it on the forest floor. She stopped once she felt another presence, a familiar one that she hadn't sensed in a long time, sixteen years to be exact. Ever since then she had become quite good at picking up people's presence (not that she prided herself for that ability).

"What do you want?" she asked, not even turning to greet Richter, who was behind her and near the log.

"I came to see how you are doing," he said in that same serious and curt tone she remembered. He hadn't changed one bit, but he at least had a motive to be like that.

"I'm fine," she said in a cold, emotionless tone, the same she had been using for as long as she could remember.

Richter didn't say anything. He didn't feel any hostility coming from the girl, but neither had he felt any warm to her voice. He guessed that was to be expected. He said:

"Listen, I know what you have been going through…"

"You were spying on me?" she asked, her tone devoid of accusation or anger.

"No. I say that from my own experiences. Anyway, you should know you are not alone. There is a group of…"

"I don't want to know," she cut him off.

She didn't want to know. She didn't need to. She just wanted to get done with her job and go back to her house, like she always did. The last time she wanted to know… she didn't even wanted to recall that. It took her a long time until she could keep the memory at bay.

"But you should know that…"

It was then a dull "tunk" was heard. Richter raised his eyebrows at seeing her fist making a small crater on the log. He knew that she wouldn't listen to him, at best. He sighed and decided to drop it. He then turned and was about to go when he heard:

"You look different," the girl uttered.

"How so?" Richter asked.

"I… don't know. You just do," she said.

That's probably because you can sense it in my aura. wouldbe Richter's answer, but he knew better than to try and force knowledge on her. She showed she clearly didn't want anything to do with it, even though it directly affected her one way or the other.

Richter almost felt sad for the situation the girl was in. Almost. In his opinion, she could very well go to another city and make her life there with no problem. People would probably think of her as a survivor from a demon attack. The demons wouldn't bother her either, her aura was just too strong for them to decide to pick up a fight with her. Just the bigger ones would think they had a chance to get at her, and even so Richter doubted they would be victorious.

But that was just his suspicions. The way she spoke and behaved clearly said she wouldn't even defend herself should she come into a fight. It was really a pity. She and her family had been the only decent people he had known in that village infested with racist imbeciles.

"Do you hate me? Presea?" Richter finally asked.

Presea lowered her head, never looking at Richter once. From her posture he could tell she was thinking. However, instead of an answer that should have been obvious to such question, she said:

"I've forgotten what is like to hate sixteen years ago…" without saying anything else, she grabbed the grove on the log and started to drag it on the forest floor again.

Richter sighed and left.

Sixteen years ago… he thought, reflecting. That was the first time I wished I were somebody else…

Presea arrived in her house and left the log near the fence. She then walked to a grave nearby and looked at it. She wanted to say something like "I'm home" or "Hello daddy", but she didn't find it in herself to say so. Why should she, when she had no right?

"Hey, girl! Come here!" a villager armed with a short sword said.

Presea looked and saw he was part of the village's guard. She didn't even take into notice the look of disgust and contempt he casted at her, she was already used to those. After all, the "Stranger of Ozette" was rarely a figure that was welcomed in anybody's home.

"You have a job. A bunch of outsiders came and they have a half-elf with them," the man spat at that.

Normally, Presea would have rolled her eyes at that, but she no longer felt the urge to do even that. She simply nodded to the guard and followed him. She would this job and not get any appreciation or even a "thank you" like always. After all, nobody would feel the need to thank an "emotionless freak".

Presea held no illusions that the only reason she wasn't thrown out of the village yet or even sold off as a slave, like the elders said that they did with half-elves back in the Kharlan War ("That was the time this city prospered the most," they would say. "Good business and those filth scoundrels were put into their place. I miss the old days."), was because she was the only one who could detect disguised demons.

Since the city didn't host a base for the Purge Inquisitors and was out of the way of most pilgrimage routes, although it was said they were the closest to Cruxis' hidden base, the Tower of Salvation at the center of the world, Ozette was sometimes ignored by the Church. They still had an Obelisk of Mana, but didn't have any representative since the number of people living in the village didn't even reach three digits.

Because of that and the fact that some time ago the Desian Grand Cardinal Pronyma established the Sybak Ranch over the ruins of said city, the people of the city became desperate enough to ask for Presea to use her "curse" to aid them. She could recall the priest saying it was an opportunity for her to redeem herself for her sins. However, just because they were desperate, didn't mean they would be any more willingly to put up with her.

Whatever… Presea thought. It's not like it changes anything…

- / - / - / - / - / -

The plan was quite simple: they would arrive in Ozette, find Presea, convince her to come with them (which shouldn't be difficult, considering what they had heard from Alicia) and leave. Simple as that. Not even the need to pass the night in the city. That would have been the case, had the watchman at the entrance of the city not noticed that Raine looked "odd".

"You had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Sheena grumbled to Raine as they were now surrounded by a group of people with lances and swords, all of bad quality from what Raine could tell, but sharp enough to make them bleed.

"He said I looked like a half-elf, so I hardly saw the need to hide it," she retorted in a nonchalant tone.

"But you didn't need to confirm it! This was supposed to go nice and smooth, not raising any suspicions."

"You are the ninja here, not me. I'm just a Professor," Raine said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Hey! Quit your whining!" one of the men guarding them said.

Sheena felt the urge to respond with a "bite me" to the man, but decided not to give the brute any ideas. Instead, she said:

"You don't have a wife, or got laid lately, do you?"

"Why you…" the man wearing a conic helmet and holding a rusty sword berated, but didn't do anything.

Emil looked nervously at the guard, while Ratatosk seemed to be suppressing the urge to laugh. When asking his other self, Emil received the answer:

"Just look at what they're holding. Are those even weapons? A toothpick would look better for wear than those. I could shatter those sorry excuses for weapons with my bare hands."

Emil resisted the urge to point out that it was his hands that Ratatosk would use and probably end up cutting as a result. Marta was giving the guards an ugly look. Lloyd was with a neutral expression on his face, but Zelos was the only one of them with his hands in the air, in a signal of surrender. Lloyd rolled his eyes at the Representative and said:

"Can you lower your arms? You're starting to make me nervous."

"Nuh-uh. I don't think so," Zelos said, looking at Lloyd. "What if one of these ugly brutes decides I look too pretty to show my face around the village? No thanks. I rather continue living."

Lloyd rolled his eyes at that. One of the men then said, approaching the lance to Zelos' stomach as he berated:

"Who are you calling 'ugly'?"

"Tch, so inelegant," Zelos said in a reproving manner. He gave his best sly smile as he said. "Have your mother never taught you that it's not polite to point sharp things at people?"

Lloyd honestly had to stifle a laugh at that. Zelos might be an obnoxious pervert most of the time, but he knew how to make light of a situation like nobody. The guard, however, seemed to not share the same opinion as he brought his lance up and made a trusting motion near Zelos' nose. Te Representative jumped back, with a frightened look on his face, saying:

"Not in the face! Not my beautiful face!"

Before anything else could be said, the guard that had gone to call in their "detector" returned. Part of the group was surprised at seeing a pink haired girl with lifeless, pale-blue eyes.

"Presea..." Colette whispered, loud enough for the rest of the group to hear. So that was the girl they were looking for.

"Be quick about it," the guard that brought her begrudgingly said.

Sheena and Raine frowned at the tone he used with the young girl, but Presea seemed to not pay any mind to it. She approached the group and looked at them one by one. Zelos tried to put in place his charming smile to try and woo her, but he found himself suddenly incapable of doing so as those lifeless eyes focused on his. He felt like she was staring into his very soul.

Presea found that group had very peculiar presences about them. It wasn't exactly bad, nor anything close to the demons, but rather... familiar. She then locked her gaze onto the silver haired woman. She could already tell she was a half-elf. Only half-elves had a presence like that. There was also something mixed with it. She recognized it as being demonic energy.

Presea was about to tell the village guard when her eyes fell on the blonde girl. She remembered her. Hadn't they bumped into each other back in Altamira? If that was so, those people were probably traveling with her, but what were they doing all the way out here in Ozette? There was nothing interesting in this region that would attract their attention.

Maybe they were researchers. The half-elf woman certainly looked like one of those archeologists Presea saw in Altamira once. The red clad boy's pose and built looked that of a warrior. Maybe a mercenary... the man and the blonde boy she couldn't really picture, but that boy had a presence so... unique to himself. Then there was the other woman. Presea's gaze wandered to the rest of her body and she felt a flicker of heat. She had almost forgotten what it felt like when she saw attractive ladies. The brunette girl also didn't look so bad herself, but why really care about it?

"Well... ?" the guard asked, already getting impatient.

Presea looked to him and back to the group. She saw the blond girl giving her a begging look, as if telling her not to tell on them. Presea didn't really sense any hostility to that group anyway, so she might as well spare them some trouble.

"They're clean," Presea said.

"Are you sure? What about her?" the man said, making a motion to Raine with his head, like that hadn't been the answer he was waiting for.

"What about her?" Presea repeated the question. She couldn't remember when was the last time she felt the need to come up with a retort.

"You… get out!" one of the guards sporting a hand ax berated at Presea for her answer.

The pink haired girl turned and walked away wordlessly. Sheena had enough of that and spoke up:

"Shouldn't you show a little more respect for the one defending your village?" Presea stopped at hearing that. What was the last time somebody had spoken in her defense? "She's just a little girl anyway."

"Shut up! What do you know?" the head of the guards said. "And be happy that the Faith states: Senseless killing is what separates men from mindless beasts and demons. For me, you all would be punished for bringing that 'thing' to our village."

Raine didn't seem surprised as he pointed at her. She was already expecting that kind of treatment from them. Lloyd, however, seemed angry at hearing those men talking about her like that and spoke:

"What did you say? Raine is a much better person than you!"

The man scrunched his face in an angry expression and seemed ready to start a fight with Lloyd, but Emil put himself in front of them, with a serious expression on his face as he told the two:

"We didn't come here to start a fight. We just want lodging for one night. After that, we will leave in the next morning."

"And why should we let you, half-elf loving brats, stay?" one of the guards asked.

Presea decided to leave while the travelers tried to convince the citizens of Ozette to let them stay. She didn't understand why those people seemed so adamant on staying around when they had a half-elf on their group. Surely they knew they would face resistance with the fame Ozette had. Then again, why was she even bothering with that? It wasn't like it was any of her business.

"Because we also want to make a donation to the church," Marta said, betting on the "prove of faith" card. "You certainly wouldn't deny that to followers of Cruxis, right?"

And just as Marta thought, the man seemed to consider for one moment, before letting them stay, but warned them he didn't want to see their faces in the village in the next morning. The other guards left the group alone. Raine was the first to congratulate Marta:

"Good to see that you learned it."

"Yeah, but I don't really know if it is a good thing or not," Marta said.

"It's useful and that's enough," Sheena said.

"Besides, women that bend the rules tend to be more attractive in the eyes of men," Zelos said.

"Really?" Marta asked, her tone going from worried to curious.

"Of course. Girls that know their way out of situations like this prove just how dependable they can be."

"That was surprisingly flattering, coming from you," Tenebrae said while still hidden.

"Of course. After all, I am the Last Romantic."

Sheena, Raine and Marta sighed while Emil and Lloyd shook their heads at Zelos' behavior. The group then decided to book themselves rooms in the Inn. Upon arriving there, they were told that there was only one room vacant. The party suspected it was a lie, since the Innkeeper shot a disgusted look at Raine while saying that, but the half-elven woman said it was ok for them, deciding it wouldn't do to start another scene here.

The group followed the silver haired woman to the room, hearing the Innkeeper mumbling something about "disinfecting it later". Lloyd turned and was about to give the man a piece of his mind, but Zelos grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to their room. After the door closed, Zelos said:

"Well, it's no wonder why little Presea looked so gloomy. I would be too if I had to live around uncivilized barbarians like this."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Meltokio as averse to half-elves as Ozette?" Sheena inquired.

"Are you implying that I'm like them? I'm shocked and deeply hurt, Sheena," Zelos said in a dramatic tone, putting his hand on his chest.

"Yeah. After all, he wouldn't call himself the Last Romantic if he didn't appreciate half-elven women too," Ignis pointed out.

"Thank you, my exotic hunny," Zelos said with a smile. "It's good to see that somebody appreciates me," he added, casting a narrow glance at Sheena, who had a vein pulsing on her forehead.

Raine asked for them to calm down before they attracted the attention of the owners of the Inn. The reincarnated Undine then spoke:

"It's obvious we aren't welcome here and Presea seems to be in a similar predicament from the way she was treated."

"But why would they do that?" Colette asked.

"According to what Miss Alicia said, it seems that her powers manifested themselves when she was still a little child," Ventus spoke, putting his wing in its hand-mode under his beak. "And considering what she said when she was a child, it would be obvious the villagers want to avoid her. Considering this village's reputation ever since the war, I'm not surprised that wariness evolved into outright disgust."

"How was Ozette during the war?" Marta asked in curiosity.

"You probably won't believe it, but…"

"It used to be a famous slave-trading center specialized in commercializing half-elves," Raine said, her tone cold and regal.

"What?" the youngsters let out.

"You mean they sold half-elves off like they were objects?" Lloyd asked, his tone one of pure indignation.

"Although it might not look like it, that was a time when Ozette prospered the most. So, after the end of the Kharlan War, its money reserves were lost in the attacks of the demons and the Desians," Tenebrae explained. "In face of this, it's understandable they have a natural aversion to half-elves."

"I think that's just because they couldn't let go of the past. I mean, can't they see that kind of attitude was what put them in this situation in the first place?" Marta asked.

"Try to tell them that and see what answer you will get," Zelos said in his serious tone.

Marta fell silent. Emil looked like he wanted to speak something in response, but kept his mouth shut. After all, Zelos was right. Those people looked too stubborn to admit their past ways were wrong.

"All the more reason we should take our little flower Presea away from this awful place," Solum said.

"I don't think we can force her to come with us. She might fight back," Aqua spoke.

"We should first access the situation and then decide on the best course of action," Raine proposed.

- / - / - / - / - / -

Presea approached her house while the group was discussing their plans at the Inn. She wondered why she still came back to the solitary cottage she once had called her home. It was in shambles from all of the time it went without care and since Presea was always out, going to Altamira to sell her artisanal charms. She rarely had the time to clean it up. The only thing that could be called neat and tidy in the entire terrain was her father's grave, which she made a point of cleaning every week.

It's a futile way of apologizing to him, but I guess I should at least show my respects. Presea thought.

She was quite sure if she had never opened her mouth about the strange voices she heard as a child, none of it would have happened. But, alas, she was just a child at the time, so how would she have known that just talking about her "talent" would lead to this entire tragedy?

After she got back, it started getting worse. She could now see faint, dark silhouettes and, sometimes, almost see their features, but they were so covered by grime and filth that it was difficult for her to even point out their gender. However, one thing was common between all of these strange "people": they were not part of this world anymore, but refused to go on and clung to the nearest thing they could find and in that case it was Presea.

She didn't know if it was because of her talents that these "strangers" stayed around her, but in the end it mattered not, for they were slowly driving her insane and she knew it. Sometimes, their moans and whispers wouldn't let her sleep at night. Sometimes, one would try to touch her, granted, they never achieved it, but it did leave an unpleasant sensation on her entire body, like she was covered in grime and filth herself. She once tried to convince these "strangers" to leave, but they refused, knowing that if they did, the demons would be out there, waiting to take them away to Niflheim to serve as a snack.

After her sister ran off, Presea only had these "people" for company and, although she felt as if she had lost most of her feelings during the course of the years, they still managed to disturb her. Sometimes, she thought the edge of her ax looked very tempting, almost inviting, but she always stopped before the sharp metal reached her skin. It was like something else took control of her body, refusing to let it bleed to death.

I'm stuck on this worthless life and can't get out. This must be my punishment for all the things I've done. Presea thought in contempt, deciding that since she wasn't allowed to leave this life behind then she would live and suffer as she was supposed to.

When she opened the door to her house, however, what she found wasn't the dark, filthy silhouettes waiting to sip away what still remained of her sanity. Instead she found something equally annoying, but not so mind-degrading.

"About time you came back," a boy, not older than fourteen, with straw-colored hair and brown eyes, said.

"Hello, Neil," Presea said in her usual emotionless tone.

That boy was brother to the village's priest and had a habit of using his brother's status to demand things from other kids. Presea had seen him grow up and not change at all, even thought she took care of him when he was a little child. Granted, it was just because the boy's parents didn't have a choice and because they took it as Presea owning to them since they didn't kick her out of the village (the Church of Cruxis was the one that effectively controlled everything in Ozette).

"So, have you already thought about it?" Neil asked with a smirk.

Presea would have glared at him if she weren't so empty on the inside. The boy had come to her the other day saying that he would make his brother tell everybody that Presea was to be forgiven if she agreed to become his pet. The pink haired girl thought it was probably because Neil didn't have any friends to play with, being too occupied intimidating the other kids and because she looked like she wouldn't care about it either way.

Normally, she would have given it a thought. After all, her life was an empty mess and she didn't see herself as being any more valuable. However, something held her back. If it was the pride that she thought to be dead long ago or a last shred of her soul that refused to give its freedom away, she didn't know. She then decided there was no reason why she should indulge the brat. Everybody would still hate her either way, they just wouldn't speak it out loud.

"No," that one word was spoken with such finality that made Neil step back in surprise. It seemed to gain even more strength with Presea's cold tone.

"What? What do you mean by 'no'?" the boy asked.

"I won't be your pet. I won't give away my freedom like this."

"Freedom? What are you talking about? Do you think you're better than anyone in the village? You? A freak that never grows and ages so slow that looks more like a half-elf?" the boy said with contempt in his voice. "What do you think? That somebody would be friends with a weirdo like you? Even your own sister abandoned you."

Presea tuned Neil off. She didn't need that brat to remind her of what her life had become, she already had her father's grave for that. When she turned, Neil saw she wasn't listening to him anymore and got angry, reached and grabbed her hand, making Presea immediately turn and look at his grip on her wrist with wide eyes.

"Don't just ignore me like that. I'm not done with you!" Neil berated, but Presea wasn't paying attention to his words anymore.

"… let go…" Presea said, her voice sounding worried and her face with a frightened expression.

"You don't give me orders, you weirdo!"

"Let me go," Presea said a little louder and trying to get out of his grip. Normally, she could since she was practically the strongest person in Ozette, but she didn't want to hurt him, but even that concern was slowly drifting it away, giving place to another feeling.

Presea hated it when people touched her. Ever since she was a child she could feel a person's mood just by touching them. It felt like a flood of feelings that traveled their bodies and flowed right into her. She could tune it out sometimes, but there were occasions, when the feelings were directed at her, that she couldn't.

Her father and her sister had been always been bearable, even when her sister slapped her that one time she wasn't bothered by it. With the other villagers however… their scorn and anger was like a poison that slowly entered into her very core. Malicious thoughts, like the ones she felt from Neil when he touched her, demanding things, were even worse. They made she feel corrupted… dirty.

"And don't think I haven't notice the way you look at the lady at the general store. Is that why you don't have any boyfriend?" Neil said with a malicious smile.

This time the pink haired girl wasn't able to not pay attention to him. It wasn't his words, but the feelings that they carried that seemed to be invading her body. She knew she was different like that, she didn't need him to remind her of another detail that, if combined with everything the villagers already thought of her… well, she would probably be better off being a demon in disguise.

Presea felt attracted to women. She had discovered that after her sister "pointed it out" and she started to take notice of her reactions near men and women considered attractive. She had never noticed that her tastes were different until she had it (literally) slapped into her face. Presea always felt more comfortable around women than men, her father excluded, or at least her body did. She even caught herself feeling warm and fuzzy around attractive women.

It didn't happen so much in Ozette, where she would be lynched if they ever caught her giving one look that they considered strange to their women, but in Altamira. In the resort city, she constantly found herself staring at some of the girls clad in bikinis, showing off their bodies around the beach. Some noticed Presea's stares and even winked at her, intensifying the resulting heat. Presea thought that reaction was more of a hormonal response than an emotional one, since she had, technically, the body of a prepubescent girl.

And now she had that thrown back at her with such malicious intent, never mind who was accusing her. Neil then gripped her arm tighter and that had been the last straw.

"I SAID LET GO!" it was the first time in years she had yelled and the effect was just amplified as she sensed that accursed power of hers surfacing.

Doors and closets banged open as objects flew out of their places in the shelves and anything made out of glass in the house practically exploded. Neil let go of Presea's arm, a look of pure terror on his face as he saw the chaos around the house, like it had been possessed. It was over as fast as it started.

The ax wielder stood holding the wrist that the boy had held, her eyes wide and with an almost wild look on them. However, the boy was without doubt the one frightened the most. He felt like something had tried to smash his body when Presea had given that yell. Neil then pointed at her, stuttering:

"Y-y-yo… you monster! I'm gonna t-tell on you!" with that, Neil bolted out of the house like he was escaping from a demon.

Presea didn't care. She didn't care of what would happen as she sunk on her knees and hugged herself. She felt water coming to her eyes and falling to the floor. She had almost forgot what it was to cry…

- / - / - / - / - / -

"You would think it's easy to find somebody in this small village," Zelos asked as they looked around the small plaza, where the Obelisk of Mana stood.

"So much for the discretion part," Sheena mumbled upon seeing people casting them wary glances.

As they continued to walk and came close to what looked like a giant root, which served as bridge to a lower part of the town, the group felt a strong surge of power, combined with the sound of shattering glass. It had been for just a second, but it was strong enough for even the members of the group with less developed, spiritual sensibility feel it.

"That energy was…" Aqua said.

"Shadow's," Tenebrae completed for her.

The group then hurried down the bridge-root and passed by a boy that was running like a bat escaping from hell, passing by them without even seeming to notice their presence. The group spared a brief glance at the boy before running the rest of the way and arriving near a small, worn-out cottage.

Instantly, Sheena and Raine felt five presences there: one twisted aura with thick darkness enveloping it and other four ones that definitely didn't belong to this world anymore. Sheena then muttered:

"It seems things are worst than we thought."

"What do you mean?" Marta asked.

"I'm sensing the presence of spirits inside that cottage."

"Spirits? You mean like…" Lloyd started, but Ventus interrupted him, shaking his hand/wing.

"No. It's normal spirits of people who are not alive anymore, but refuse to leave this world. Either that or they are fearful that the demons will drag them to Niflheim."

"As a result, they become wandering spirits, or ghosts as they are more popularly known," Raine finished explaining.

"Do they pose some kind of danger to Presea?" Emil asked in concern.

"Not really. You could say they are more of a nuisance than technically a threat, however that would be for one who knows exactly what they are and how to deal with their presence. They tend to flock around to people with some kind of spiritual sensibility and, as a consequence, harm that person's sanity with their auras full of negative emotions. It's even worse when that person doesn't understand what's going on."

"Then, we can't let them around Presea if they're hurting her," Colette said.

"Unfortunately it's not that easy to get rid of possessive spirits like that. Just the person which attracted their obsession can do, either by seeking advice or by her willpower," seeing Colette's desperate look, Raine decided to add. "However, we could push them away, but only temporarily."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Sheena said, pulling out a seal card.

Inside the cottage, Presea was curled in a fetal position near a corner of the bedroom. Around her, four of the "people" only she could see were whispering things to her ear, of how much of a monster she was, how nobody cared about her and how she would always be alone, having only their company. In short, they were tormenting her like always. It was especially worse now, since she felt so vulnerable.

Why did she have to be like that? She never asked for these abilities, these powers, or whatever they were called. She just wanted to be a normal girl, live, get old and maybe marry in the future. However, she knew those were only childish dreams. The world wasn't what it used to be anymore.

Now they had demons to worry about, Cruxis' teachings to follow, less their little village lost their protection, and, to top it all, Presea would probably never get married for the simple fact that she wouldn't ever find a man to love. Not by lack of choice, but because she didn't feel attracted to them in the least. At best, she could have become a single woman, working to sustain her family. But she didn't even have a family anymore.

Her father was dead because of her. Her sister ran off because of her and Presea didn't even know if she had reached the next city or was attacked and devoured by a demon mid-way. Worse still, she knew these memories were coming back to her because of them, but there was nothing she could do.

It was then her destiny took a drastic turn...

"Hey there," a voice said, attracting the attention of the "strangers". "Piss off."

Next thing she knew, there was an intense, bright light. The spirits screamed and left the cottage faster than the eyes could catch. Presea looked up, not feeling their presence anymore. In front of her was a voluptuous, violet haired woman who was guarding on her pocket what looked like a piece of paper.

"Tch. Typical, wandering spirits," more people started to enter as the violet haired woman looked at Presea. "Are you alright, Presea?"

She gasped. That was certainly an unusual situation. The pink haired girl got up at once, asking:

"Who are you? How do you know my…" it was then she noticed something. "You could see them?"

"Well, I for myself couldn't," a red headed man said with an easygoing smile on his face and his arms crossed behind his head. "But I'm sure Sheena here co…"

Before he could complete his line, he was elbowed in the ribs by a brunette girl with a thin frame. She looked angry as she said:

"We're trying to calm her down Zelos, not make she thinks she's some kind of freak!"

Presea would have retorted something about her already being one, but she couldn't find her voice. It was then a silver haired woman came. She was wearing an orange coat and a brown, adventurer hat. She had beautiful, exotic features too. Too exotic to have been human. And her presence…

"You're… a half-elf?" Presea asked.

"Yes. Does that bother you?" the woman asked in an interrogative and devious tone.

Presea knew that tone, having heard it being directed at her several times. She immediately answered:

"No, it doesn't."

"Anyway, we came here because we wanted to talk with you," a boy wearing a red jacket with a white shirt beneath it and two swords strapped on his waist said, coming up to her. "Are you alright? We saw that you had some spirit guys bothering and…" when he was about to take another step that would have left just three inches of space between them, Presea found herself saying:

"Don't get any closer!" the boy stacked at his place, looking confused. Presea then noticed her unintended outburst and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. I'm not feeling so well."

"Why? Does it have something to do with those spirits? We already sent them away," a blonde girl said. When Presea looked at her, she recognized the face.

"You're… that girl on Altamira… and then at the entrance of the village."

Presea then remembered. These were the people she was asked to analyze to see if they were demons, the ones with the strange and different presences. What did these people want with her?

"We came here because we wanted to meet you," the blonde girl said, flashing a radiant, gentle smile at her. "By the way, I'm Colette."

One by one, the travelers introduced themselves to her. She could also feel other presences there, like silhouettes around them. It didn't look like them. Actually, these looked more like beasts than anything else, but they didn't feel as disturbing as the spirits. If anything, they seemed almost… familiar in a way.

Presea decided to leave it be by the time being and concentrated on what these people wanted with her. She asked why they were after her. The blonde boy called Emil come forth and said:

"We've been looking for you. We heard about your powers and the trouble you've been facing here due to your special abilities and we…"

"There's nothing special about me," Presea cut him off. Emil seemed surprised at the reply. "I'm… a freak… a monster… you don't want to know about me."

"That's not true," the brunette, Marta, said. "Look, we know that it might sound strange coming from a group of strangers, but we're the same as you. We're…"

"No, you're not," Presea interrupted her. "Believe in me, if you got to know me, you wouldn't want to stay around me. I'm… dirty… stained."

Raine raised her eyebrow at hearing that. That way of speaking and the signs that Presea was showing left her no doubt; the girl had already discovered about her powers and it seem to have led to some kind of trauma. There was also another thing strange on the pink haired girl…

"What do you mean by 'stained'?" Colette asked.

Presea stood silent. She shouldn't speak about that, not with these strangers, they had nothing to do with her. Sheena decided to try and get Presea to speak, so she put her hand on the girl's shoulder. Presea looked up, seeming a little surprised, but she didn't repel Sheena, nor asked her to get back.

"You can tell us. We're not going to incriminate you or anything."

Presea felt warm from her touch, her sincere feelings pouring into her. Together with them was another warm, completely different from anything she felt before. It felt like it was balancing her in some short of way, like a force that was supposed to regulate her presence.

She then felt other things, in special a feeling of understanding, like this lady knew exactly what she was talking about. Presea couldn't help, but let her cheeks gain a pink tint as she found the contact welcoming. She decided to blame it on her hormones. It was then she realized she was leaning too much close to that woman and stood back, getting out of the woman's warm presence and back into her cold world.

"I'm sorry, but… please leave. I have a job to do," that was a lie, since she had just got back from her job, but if this woman realized what she was feeling right now and how she had appreciated the contact, she would never want to look at her face again.

Sheena looked surprised. She thought she had been doing good when Presea looked like she was ready to hug her when she started leaning on her. She looked kind of cute with the way her cheeks became tinted of pink. Actually, that look she shot at her before was kind of familiar.

The ninja was about to say something else when she felt Raine's hand on her shoulder. She looked at her silver haired friend, who said:

"Let's go. She doesn't look like she will listen even if we speak."

Sheena wanted to try and insist, but the look on Raine's eyes told her that it wouldn't do them any good. She sighed and decided to follow the others out of Presea's house. Emil decided to try approach Presea and said:

"If you need anything you can talk to us at the Inn…" he stopped when he stepped too close and Presea took a step back, like she didn't want him to invade her personal space.

"I'll think about it," she said in an emotionless tone. "Now, please leave. I have work to do," Emil sighed and also left. Colette stayed at the door to wave Presea goodbye, giving her a sad smile as she left.

When the group was outside of the cottage, the Centurions appeared, their bestial faces wore what looked like worried expressions. Tenebrae was the first to speak:

"The situation doesn't look good. Her aura was in complete disarray. It was like she awakened too soon, or not completely."

"There's also another thing that worried me," Raine said. "You might not have noticed…" she looked to the youngsters. "but her aura was almost stitched to her body. Also, her eyes were so strange. It's hard to believe a fourteen years old would have that kind of look."

"Fourteen? I thought she had twenty eight?" Lumen said with a confused look on his face.

"What?" Lloyd asked.

"We Centurions can pinpoint the age of people by looking at their auras," Ventus explained. "I was also surprised when I noticed it."

"So, you're saying that Presea is twenty eight years old, but has the body of a teenage girl?" Marta asked. "How is that even possible?"

"I believe I can explain that," a new voice said, coming from the path that led to the forest.

The group turned and saw Richter coming, wearing his usual regal look. Emil and Marta were pleasantly surprised in meeting their friend once more. Richter looked at Zelos and said:

"Hello, Representative Wilder."

"Actually, I think after all I've done, ex-Representative would be better, don't you think?" Zelos said in his carefree tone, with a wave of his hand.

"You met him before?" Sheena asked.

"Well, you see, this guy came to my residence saying there was a group of people that I should meet. Next thing I know, I'm leaning myself against the Obelisk of Mana, speaking with a group of people containing the most attractive females I've ever seen… and some other guys."

Marta and Emil widened their eyes and looked at Richter. They then smiled at seeing their friend had tried to help them in Meltokio after all. Richter adjusted his glasses and said for them to come with him to the forest, where they wouldn't be overheard.

The group followed the half-demon until they were at a good distance from Presea's house. Richter turned to them, crossing his arms, and started his tale:

"Eighteen years ago, I was traveling to find more knowledge about the mark on Emil's chest, the Crest of Ratatosk. In my travels, I came across a rumor about a girl in Ozette who was said to hear things, people that nobody else could see. I came here and met the girl and her father. Her aura reminded me a little of Emil, but in a different way. With some research, I found out the aura matched with that of Shadow."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Raine asked.

"I used to study things, like the use of mana... back in the war," Richter said in a heavy tone. He then resumed his story. "Anyway, when I found out, I tried to get closer to her and her father, offering my services to study her powers and find a way so she could control it. By the course of two years I gained enough of their trust to convince Presea's father to come with me to the Temple of Darkness and bring Presea along. If we did that, we would be able to better understand her talents and how they could affect her future.

"After traveling to the Fooji continent, we climbed the mountains and entered the temple. Presea was able to undo the seal, proving that she indeed had a tie with the Summon Spirits. We reached the altar and found there the fragment of Shadow's soul."

"Did Presea manage to unite with it?" Colette asked, surprised that the other half of the girl's soul would show itself when Presea was just a child.

"No. The fragment said she was too young to take up her destiny. We decided to go back, but then we found ourselves surrounded by demons."

Lloyd and the others gasped. Colette asked how that was possible and Emil explained that once the seal was undone, anybody could enter the temples, even the demons. Richter proceeded to tell them him and Sieg, Presea's father, fought the demons, but became quickly overwhelmed by their numbers.

"In an attempt to save us, Presea tried to plead with Shadow's soul half to help us with its power, but he refused again. Presea tried to insist and ended up touching the fragment. She absorbed part of it before being repelled. The power intake proved to be too much for her to handle and she ended up releasing a burst of energy of darkness.

"The demons were all killed by the blast, but it also ended up hitting me and Sieg. I managed to survive thanks to my magical resistance, but Sieg didn't have the same luck. The attack killed him, draining his body's life completely."

Colette brought her hands to her mouth, gasping while Lloyd and the others widened eyes. Raine finally understood why Presea acted that way. She probably blamed herself for the death of her father. Richter continued:

"We took Sieg's body back and Presea and her sister had a fight. I won't get into details, since... well, the things Alicia said weren't things you should tell to your own sister. Anyway, after that, Presea ordered me to leave and I did. It seems things have gotten worse after that," Richter said in a thoughtful tone as he looked back at the solitary cottage Presea called home.

"Wait? Did you just say Alicia?" Sheena asked.

Richter nodded and the group started to understand why Regal's maid had told them about Presea. Watching their expressions, Richter asked if they had met the woman.

"We met her at Altamira. She's working as Duke Bryant's personal maid," Marta said.

"Maybe she regrets leaving Presea," Emil suggested. "I mean, she did look sad when she told us about it. Maybe she wants to make peaces with her sister."

"Even so, sixteen years is a long time. And from what I saw, Presea traveled to Altamira to sell her charms. Alicia would probably have had several chances to talk with her sister," Richter pointed out.

"Maybe she doesn't know how to approach Presea. I mean, if she really ran off," Colette said. "We have to tell that to Presea. Maybe that would help her to cheer up."

The group nodded at the idea. Richter then said he would be leaving, since he wasn't necessary there. Emil called the former half-elf before he could go and said:

"Thanks for your help."

"I didn't help you, I helped Presea," Richter said, though the message behind his tone was clear to the reincarnated Ratatosk. "Anyway, I better go. I already did too much damage to that girl, so I'm the last person she will want to see."

"Wait," this time, it was Raine who held Richter off, making the red head turn to look at her. "About her aura and the fact she doesn't seem to age. Was her aura already in that state after she partially united with Shadow?" the half-demon nodded to her and Raine put her hand over her mouth in a thoughtful pose. "Then it's possible it has slowed down her biological clock."

"What do you mean, Raine?" Zelos asked.

"The most logical way for one to turn immortal would be for him or her to stop his body's internal clock. When that happens, the subject stop aging and can live longer, if not eternally. I suspect the Summon Spirit's souls have that kind of power."

"Then you mean that Presea is already immortal?" Sheena questioned.

"No. If that were the case, then she would look exactly the same she did sixteen years ago. What may have happened is that her body's internal clock was slowed down in a way it takes years for her to physically age. The proof is the fact her aura is hugging her skin like a blanket."

Raine then saw the group's confused faces and sighed again. Richter decided to spare her the job of having to explain that and spoke:

"Normally, the aura of a person flows to outward their body. However, it is possible for somebody to compress that energy and use it to shield themselves against magical attacks. The most skilled ones can even use it to enhance their skins and gain a bigger physical resistance.

"However, Presea's aura is protecting her body from time itself by using the energy of darkness to slow down her biological clock. Either way, she will eventually stop aging when she unites with Shadow."

With that, Richter bid the group farewell and left. Raine suggested for them to go back to the Inn, since Presea would probably still be reluctant to talk to them. As the party went back to Ozette, Colette was still thinking on all that was said...

- / - / - / - / - / -

Night was falling on the quiet village. As most of the lumberjacks went back to their houses after another day of work, in the solitary cottage in the shout-most entrance to the village, Presea finished eating her meal, which consisted of some meat from a deer monster she hunted in the woods.

Even hunting and eating had become a routine for her. She considered stop eating at some time, but found the urge was just too great to let herself starve to death. Once more, Presea wondered when she her survival instinct had gained a mind of its own.

Probably when I... Presea stopped her train of thought there, not wanting to delve into those memories yet again.

Her thoughts wandered to those strangers she met today. They seemed to be good people, but she didn't doubt they would soon leave. The people of Ozette weren't very welcoming of outsiders, that is, unless they were willingly to "prove their faith to the church". The pink haired girl didn't like the way the church controlled things in her village, but nobody seemed to care. After all, Cruxis kept the demons away and the church didn't favor the half-elves, so what was there to complain?

As she got up and went to the sink to wash the dishes, Presea heard somebody knock on her door and raised her head from the sink in curiosity, since she never received visits. Presea went to the door and opened it to see a cascade of blonde hair greeting her with a radiant smile.

"Hello," Colette said in her usual cheerful tone.

Presea was surprised to see the girl and even more that she didn't see her companions around. Had she come alone? But why?

"Um... can I enter?" Colette asked, fiddling with her hair when she noticed Presea's surprised face.

The pink haired girl recovered her usual emotionless expression and merely nodded with her head, giving space for Colette to enter. While the blonde did, Presea unconsciously eyed her. She noticed Colette was taller than her and both still had to develop any curves at all.

"Why did you come?" Presea asked Colette in her cold, emotionless tone. The blonde didn't seem intimidated as most people did when Presea spoke like that.

"I wanted to talk with you in particular. Don't worry. The others are in the Inn."

Presea wondered why this girl still insisted in speaking with her when she had made it clear she didn't want to be bothered. However, the lumberjack didn't find it in herself to tell Colette out this time. The girl's presence had a strange effect on her.

"I know you said you didn't want to know, but I think you should at least hear this," Colette gave a pause to see if Presea would object or not. Fortunately, the pink haired girl merely stared at her in inquiry. "We were told about you by your sister, Alicia."

For the first time in years, Presea's eyes widened in surprise. It was also the first time she had heard the name of her little sister after so long. But why would Alicia tell them about her? Colette seemed to catch the question on the girl's eyes and said:

"She looked worried about you. I think she wants to forgive you about the fight you two..." Presea's face changed from surprise to one of horror and Colette then realized she had given too much information in too little time.

"She... told you about... ?" Presea didn't find it in herself to finish that question.

Memories were already coming back to her and she could hear their voices, whispering things like "murder", "father-killer" and many other insults. Colette noticed the presence of the wandering spirits and was decided to not let them harm Presea any further.

Assuming a serious look on her face, she entered in spirit form, bathing the rundown cottage in brown light as her clothes changed. The surge of power resulting in the transformation made the spirits ran away in fear of the strong aura it carried.

Presea opened her eyes and stared at Colette in awe. She... looked like an angel. And her presence... Presea had never felt something so beautiful in her entire life. Colette then touched her shoulder and she then felt the flood of emotions through the girl's touch. There wasn't a single ounce of malice, or deceit in Colette, like those emotions didn't have a place in her at all.

"Are you alright? I felt those wandering spirits approaching again," Colette asked in a worried and gentle tone.

So that was how they were called? It seemed fitting. Presea merely nodded, still to stupefied to come up with a verbal answer. Colette then noticed the girl's stare and smiled as she said:

"That's my spirit form. You probably have one too since you're a reincarnated Summon Spirit like me," at Presea's confused face, Colette noticed she had, again, let out too much information at once.

"Summon Spirit?" Presea asked.

"It might not look like it, but I'm one. Sheena, Lloyd, Emil and the others are too and you're one too."

Colette kept her smile the entire time while explaining that. Presea didn't detect any lies coming from the girl, but... Summon Spirit? Her? There should be a mistake. There was no way somebody like her... she then remembered: if Colette knew about her fight with her sister, she probably knew the motive behind it.

She shook her head while backing away, away from Colette's warm and comforting presence and touch, her look one of denial as she said:

"No. It can't be. There's no way a murderer like me..."

"Are you talking about your father? That wasn't your fault," Colette said, her expression turning serious as she tried to convince Presea. "The demons were..."

"IT WAS ME!" that was the third time she raised her voice in one day. Presea didn't know why, but she needed to tell Colette, to show her she couldn't be one of the guardians of the world. She was too stained... too dirty to be one. "I WAS THE ONE THAT TRIED TO PLEAD WITH SHADOW! I RELEASED THAT ATTACK ON DADDY AND KILLED HIM!"

Colette stopped talking when Presea had that outburst. She knew what she was feeling better than anyone. She felt the same when Maki and her friends from Iselia were killed right before her eyes. From the looks of it, Presea had kept her emotions of guilt bottled up for a long time. Too long to be healthy.

"I... I'm a monster... a monster and a murderer," Presea felt tears coming to her eyes again as she lowered her head and held it in her hand. "My own sister said so... I'm weird and now I'm dirty... dirty with his blood. I can't be a Summon Spirit. I don't even deserve to live and..." it was then Colette decided she had watched enough and decided to act. She approached Presea and before the girl could object, she hugged her.

Presea stopped speaking at feeling Colette's firm and steady grip on her, like she was trying to pass her warm to her. Presea didn't understand that at all. Why was an angel like Colette taking pity on a murder like her? It was then Colette spoke, in a voice that was laden with sadness:

"I understand... I know what you're feeling. I felt the same when my friends and loved ones were killed because of me," Presea's teary eyes widened. She didn't feel any lie in Colette's words or emotions. "You think you don't deserve to live and that you should just disappear, so everybody would be happier without you there to bring them pain, right?"

Colette then leaned her face away to look into Presea's eyes. The pink haired girl could only look at those beautiful, bright, blue eyes as the reincarnated Gnome spoke in a firm and serious tone, putting all of her emotion in her words:

"But it's not right. You can't simply stop living. There are people who would be sad if you were gone. And... dying won't solve anything. My friends taught me that and for that I'm grateful to them with all my heart. So, please, don't think that nobody will care if you're gone. If anything, I would be sad. You deserve to live, Presea. If not for you, then for those that you can protect."

Presea had never heard anybody speaking like that before and, although she had denied it herself several times, she found she couldn't contest Colette's words. And what she said that she would be sad if she was gone... Presea wanted to say that Colette was only speaking that to make her feel better, because she (apparently) was a Summon Spirit too... but she couldn't.

She could feel it even in only Colette's words. She had never before met somebody who could put their heart in their words. She actually thought somebody like that didn't exist at all, but here it was. She never thought much about angels before, but... she could say, with one hundred percent of certainty, that Colette was one of them.

She suddenly found herself leaning closer to the blonde. Colette also noticed and started to get nervous. Last time somebody had gotten this close to her, it had ended up in a kiss. Did that mean Presea wanted to kiss her? Could it mean that... ?

It was then hell broke loose as the sound of an explosion shook the cottage...

- / - / - / - / - / - / -

"She's taking too long," Sheena said.

They had let Colette go alone to Presea's house after she had insisted that she needed to talk to Presea. Raine tried to convince the blonde, but she had been adamant on the subject. Her determined stance and look remembered the half-elf quite a bit of Sheena. Maybe Colette did get some of the voluptuous ninja's traits.

"Sheena, calm down," Lloyd said, trying to tranquilize his amorous interest. "I'm sure she's alright. Presea didn't look like the violent type."

"Besides, she showed a better response to Colette's attempts to talk to her," Raine pointed out, while making notes in her large book. "I'm sure the two of them will be alright."

"I really hope so," Marta said. "From what we heard, their situation seems to be quite the same. I mean, do you remember how Colette looked after the attack on Iselia?"

The group could just lower their heads in thought. Indeed, Colette looked like she was ready to abandon herself then and there. Zelos, who was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed behind his head, smiled as he shrugged and said:

"I'm pretty sure our angel is doing fine. If anything, those two will probably grow quite close."

The tone the red head used in the word "close" was not lost on the group. Emil looked at Zelos and asked what he meant with that. The ex-Representative looked at the blonde and asked, with a surprised look:

"What? Do you mean you guys hadn't notice it, yet?"

Emil, Lloyd and Marta looked confused, as did some Centurions. Raine looked stoic as always, but Sheena was silently sending him hand signals for him to stop talking. It was then Zelos understood Sheena and Raine hadn't told the group about Colette's "preferences". He started to wonder if he really should break the news to them, but the prospect of a painful retribution at the hands of Sheena didn't make it that much…

It was then the entire Inn shook with an explosion...

- / - / - / - / - / - / -

People ran away as the Desians invaded the city, killing any who were foolish enough to oppose them. The city guard tried to stop them, but their bad-quality and rusted weapons were no match for the Desians' crossbows, whips and blades.

The half-demons had grins on their faces as they killed anybody they encountered in their path. One man fell with a gash on the left side of his face, scowling at the invaders:

"You filthy half-elves! Cruxis will crush your damn ra..." the man was decapitated by that affront as the Desian let out a "humph" of contempt.

"These humans from Ozette are pretty gutsy."

"What did you expected?" the Desian archer besides the one that killed the man said. "But I'm pretty, damn happy we're finally destroying this hell hole of a city."

It was then the two saw people coming out of the Inn. These ones were carrying weapons and one of them scowled at seeing them. The Desians smiled, thinking they had encountered more humans to slaughter. It was then a sphere made out of light appeared above their heads. The last thing they saw and felt were several beams of light coming out the sphere and burning their auras out of existence.

After casting Ray, Raine quickly accessed the situation. From the looks of it, the Desians had finally decided to destroy Ozette. She could also guess who approved that order, considering what Human Ranch the city stood near to.

"Damn these Desians!" Lloyd cursed as he saw the corpses of the guards of the city nearby. He hadn't liked them, but they didn't deserve to die like that.

"Seems they finally decided to exterminate the city. But why only now?" Raine wondered out loud.

Before the group could argue with her, the Desians noticed their presence and surrounded them…

On the other side of the town, Colette and Presea exited the lumberjack's cottage and saw people running to the forest as smoke and fires could be seen in the city. They also heard some of the people screaming about Desians.

Colette quickly called for her chakras, taking them up. She then turned to Presea and said for her to stay hidden. The pink haired girl looked at Colette and shook her head, going to grab her ax and coming back with the great weapon in hand:

"This is my hometown. I will defend it too."

Presea wondered when she started to worry over Ozette's fate, considering nobody in the city would spend a drop of sweat to save her. She then realized, as she and Colette ran to the upper sections of the city, cutting down any Desians on their way, that what she wasn't worried specifically over Ozette…

Lloyd and the others fought against some transformed Desians. He also noticed there were some spearwomen in their rankings who transformed into what looked like demon birds with their hands turning into talons with elongated claws or long spikes sprouting out of their wrists in the place of their lances. Raine advised the group not to transform yet, since it seemed the Desians didn't recognize them as Ratatosk's group.

Marta killed three Desians attacking an unarmed woman being defended by a man with an ax. The woman and man didn't give her a second glance as they bolted away. Marta didn't stop to dwell on that and concentrated on fighting as she saw Colette coming. To her surprise, Presea was right besides the girl with an ax that should have been too big for her to carry.

"LISTEN UP, WORTHLESS HUMANS!" a loud voice echoed in the village. The fighting temporarily stopped as everybody looked up to the platform where the convenience store was located. There stood a man with slick, black hair and ashen-colored eyes wearing a uniform of a different design than the other Desians with black, metal gauntlets and greaves engraved with golden symbols covering his arms and legs. "I am General Kaliar of the Desians! By order of the great Lady Pronyma, Leader of the Five Grand Cardinals, your city shall be purged by its past crimes."

"Crimes?" a priest being cornered by the Desians with what looked like his family said. They had stayed like that since the invasion began and it seemed the Desians had orders not to kill them. "The only criminals here are you lot! How dare you attack a city protected by Cruxis? The holy judgment will…"

"Do us all a favor and spare me the sermon, father," the general mocked, making the other Desians laugh at the man, who gritted his teeth. "I don't really expect you hypocrites to remember, but in the case your memories have dulled like your brains, let me clarify for you: Ozette in the past was a loathsome slave-trading center, which specialized in selling our kin as if we were objects. We decided that some payback was in order."

With a smile, Kaliar lifted his hand and was about to order the execution of the Cruxis' priest when he noticed something flying at his direction in high speed. The half-demon dodged the projectile and looked from where it came, seeing a blonde girl with her arm stretched and serious look on her face.

"Tch. Well, well… looks like we have some stubborn ones," Kaliar murmured as the Desians closer to Colette turned to her, angry expressions on their faces:

"You! How dare you to threaten General Kaliar?"

"Kill her!"

Some Desians transformed as others advanced on Colette. The girl used her powers to make the chakras float around her arms as she stretched them and spun in her place:

"Ring Whirlwind!" the sharp, metal rings slashed at anything that was close to Colette.

Presea entered in action too, bashing and cutting down anything that got too close to Colette while the blonde used long-ranged Artes to cut lines of enemies down. Lloyd and the others opened their path through the Desian troops.

Kaliar scrunched his nose up at seeing the group of humans fighting off his troops. He flexed his feet and jumped in a vertical line to the group. Emil barely noticed the Desian General practically flying to him as he brought his sword up to block a powerful kick that was aimed at his face. The sound of metal against metal echoed in the plaza.

As soon as he put one foot in the ground, Kaliar threw a punch and, this time, Emil had no way to block and the force of the blow sent him flying back. Marta saw that and went to help Emil, her spinner a blur as she swung her arm, dodged and stepped out of the way of attacks with all the grace and agility of a ballerina.

Raine casted support spells and offensive-light magic. Sheena met the Desian General's punches and blows with her own. She had to admit that even with her physical endurance, his blows hurt. She pressed her offensive on the general, forcing him to guard. When she got him where she wanted, she threw a multitude of guardian seals, which floated around him. The ninja then used her magical energy to blow the Desian away with Demon Seal.

Kaliar recovered in midair and landed on his feet. That Arte had actually managed to harm his aura. He would have felt humiliated that he was hit by a human whore if it wasn't by the fact that when she casted that Arte her magical energy spiked and he managed to catch a glimpse of it. That woman wasn't entirely human.

A mixed blood? Damn! Just, who the hell are these guys? Kaliar thought, but didn't have much time to dwell on it as a chakra came flying, aiming for his neck. He leaned to the side to avoid decapitation.

Kaliar decided to stop playing with the group and get serious before this humiliation went on any further. Concentrating on gathering his magical energy on his feet, he flexed his knees again and shot forward, his body being enveloped by a spiral of wind, forming an arrow-tip in front of him.

"Drill Shot!" Kaliar passed by the group of reincarnated Summon Spirits, his body spinning in the air. Although Lloyd and the others noticed him approaching, they weren't able to defend in time as lightning-fast blows rained on their bodies as the wind spiral hit them.

That attack gave the other Desians the chance they needed to land some blows on the group, drawing blood, from Lloyd, Sheena and Presea, before they could block the attacks again. Kaliar stopped near Raine and raised his fist to strike. The half-elven woman blocked with her staff, but cracks appeared on her weapon, making Raine's eyes widen.

Kaliar smiled and approached the half-elven woman, head butting her on the forehead with enough force to make Raine back away, dizzy. He was about to be hit again when Colette stepped in and blocked the attack with her metal chakra. The Desian General grumbled and released a flurry of punches on the girl. Colette defended some, but wasn't fast enough to block all blows, receiving several bruises as she concentrated on protecting at least her face.

The reincarnated Gnome went to the ground after a well-placed kick on her chest. Kaliar then charged chaos energy on his fist and prepared to bring it down on Colette's head:

"Impact Hammer!"

The blonde saw that and used her power to make a rock wall rise between her and the Desian General. Kaliar hit the wall and it immediately exploded on several shards as Colette got up and jumped back. The Desian got confused at what had just happened, but decided to think on it later as he followed up his attack.

Presea swung her ax with great strength at another Desian that tried to attack her. Thanks to her fourteen years old body, she wasn't a very easy target to hit. That combined with the length and size of her ax, made her a very dangerous adversary. Each strike of her weapon turned the armor of the Desians into a crumpled mess and reduced their bones to fragments. Even in their demonic form, the half-demons stood little chance against her as each of her blows slashed skin and crushed limbs indiscriminately. Lloyd, Sheena and the others noticed that and stayed out of the powerful girl's way, not wanting to be accidently caught in one of her ample swings.

It was then Presea looked to Colette's direction and saw her receiving another powerful blow to her stomach that took the air out of her lungs. Colette went on her knees and Kaliar joined his hands, ready to smash her head when Marta and Emil threw themselves at him, pushing the Desian away. He recovered in time to see the two swinging their weapons his way.

Kaliar held his arms up and stopped the blows with his gauntlets, producing sparks and the weapons were deflected. He prepared to counter when a cry of "Infinite Destruction!", followed by several, hard rocks impacted with his side and pushed him away. The Desian General turned to see a girl with pink hair wielding an ax too big for her. However, what called his attention the most was the girl's unusual aura. Kaliar smiled as he spoke:

"I see, so you're that strange girl they've been talking about. That's perfect! Once I kill you and present your corpse to Lady Pronyma, they'll make me a Cardinal for sure."

Raine, who had been near and heard Kaliar's speech felt the urge to curse once more.

Of course, how hadn't I thought of this possibility before? Raine berated at herself. If words of Presea had reached other cities then it wouldn't be unreasonable to think the Desians had also heard about her. They probably dismissed the stories until now, when it was confirmed that people with strange powers were actually Summon Spirits reincarnated.

Presea didn't seem to care about that in the least, as she merely took a look at Colette, noticing the several bruises on her body and her difficulty to stand up. The reincarnated Shadow pointed her ax to the Desian General, her pink bangs casting a shadow over her eyes as she said in a voice laced with piercing cold:

"You hurt Colette and attacked my home," Presea didn't think she ever used that tone before… and what was this? This unsettling irritation that burned inside her? This... urge to slice the Desian General to bits in retribution to what he did to Colette? Was it anger?

"Oh? And what are you gonna do?" the half-demon taunted as his aura started to flare up. From the stories, this girl had an acute spiritual sensibility and an aura powerful enough to ward demons off.

The Desian General entered in his demon form, turning into something that resembled a wolf with two yellow horns. His hands and paws were now covered by boots and gauntlets of a feral design with claws on their tips. Presea didn't seem impressed in the least, only facing the half-demon with her eyes overshadowed by her bangs. Kaliar crouched on the ground, giving a lupine smile as he spoke:

"Prepare to die, little wench!"

The Desian-wolf demon then shot to Presea at incredible speed, turning into a blur, however, Presea didn't move from her spot one inch. Part of the group stopped fighting at seeing the General rushing to the reincarnated Shadow, his knuckle and metal claws closing as he prepared to deliver a crushing punch.

Presea swung her ax against the half-demon, however, when the weapons collided, Presea's ax was violently repelled, its blade cracking and breaking. Colette gasped as she saw the transformed Desian hit Presea on her stomach, the girl's small body flying back and hitting the wall of house with a painful "thud". She slid down, blood starting to come out of the cuts on her belly.

The wolf-Desian smiled and plunged his claws on the ground, five lines scarred the ground in their wake, going for Presea, who didn't budge an inch from her spot.

"Presea look out!" Colette yelled to the pink haired girl.

Sheena, Emil and Raine suddenly felt a huge agitation in Presea's aura. If they didn't know better, they would have thought she was about to enter in spirit form. When the lines arrived close enough to Presea, five grey spikes shot from the ground, ready to skewer the ax wielder. However, in the blink of an eye, Presea disappeared as the spikes pierced the wall.

Kaliar freed his hand from the earth, the spikes retracting back as he looked around, trying to locate the girl. It was then he sensed a rush of magical energy on his feet. He looked down right when several dark current of winds shot out of a black hole on his feet and lifted him up, attacking and sucking the chaos energy on his aura. The attack passed as quickly as it came and he was dropped on the ground, near where the dark hole had formed. Something then started to come out of the dark hole.

The entire party and even the Desians stopped to watch the fight and saw Presea emerging from the dark hole, however, as she came out she changed. Her entire figure was covered by wisps of thick darkness as her aura got thicker, her body and silhouette grew until she reached the height and proportions of an adult. Her pigtails became undone as her hair fell down. From the contours of her body, it seemed she wasn't wearing any clothes, but it was difficult to guess with the thick darkness covering her entire body. When she opened her eyes, the pale-blue was replaced by a glowing yellow that covered the two sockets.

"Oh. So you think you're going to scare me with that?" the Desian general mocked with a canine grin. "Try again, human whore!" he then ran to Presea, claws poised to slash her apart. However, when the claw came down, his hand suddenly stopped.

Kaliar tried to force it down, but it wouldn't budge an inch. He then saw Presea holding his hand in place. He blinked and Presea's face was suddenly very close to his. Next thing Kaliar knew, a blackened hand punched his snout with tremendous strength, making he feel like its bones had broken.

The transformed Desian staggered back and looked at Presea with a look of pure anger. With a roar and nose dripping blood, the Desian General shot to Presea again and unleashed a barrage of kicks and punches. Although each of the blows hit home, making Presea look like a rag doll taking a beating, it didn't look like it was doing any real damage.

Emil and the others could just watch it. The Desians had also stopped, too stupefied by the display and transformation of the pink haired girl. Raine was especially worried at sensing something that shouldn't be showing off on Presea's aura.

It was common knowledge the element of darkness had a close tie with negative emotions and, sometimes, could even be called forth by them. Shadow was the regulator of such ties, lessening their impact on the world and darkness mana, so, in a way, he could use such feelings to empower his own magic, but one of the main precepts of magic was to never let it come into contact with your emotions, for those were the worst kind of medium, even more if the person was emotionally unstable.

And here, she could feel Presea's aura resonating with anger.

This is not good. If she doesn't calm down, her emotions can make her powers become unstable. the silver haired half-elf thought.

"NOW I GOT YOU, INFERIOR BEING!" the Desian claimed, aiming for Presea's head. However, when he brought his claws down, Presea shot her hand up.

It took one second for the burning pain to be felt by the Desian General as Presea's limb morphed into a blade and his hand and gauntlet were cut in the middle until the wrist. Kaliar retracted the destroyed limb, holding it as he howled in pain. Presea "dived" into the ground again, forming a "puddle" of darkness, which positioned at the feet of the Desian. Dark winds came out of the black hole once more, lifting Kaliar in the air as Presea emerged, her arms crossed, forming an "X" as she slowly turned in her place.

Kaliar dispelled the dark winds with his aura and tried to stomp the turned-adult girl. However, Presea released a dark smoke and stepped of the way, transforming her fingers into claws and slashing at the Desian's leg. Kaliar held a yell of pain back and jumped to the side, using his good leg to land.

"Wow, she's completely trashing him," Zelos cheered.

"Yes, but not in the right way," Tenebrae said in a worried tone.

"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked.

"You probably can't feel it, but Presea is using her anger to empower herself."

"And how is that bad?"

"Why do you think the first thing spell casters are taught is to discipline their minds and keep concentration?" Raine inquired, starting to explain. "Feelings can empower magic, however, that is not advisable, because emotions for themselves are unstable. If you let your emotions control you, the probability of a spell backfiring increases tremendously."

"Darkness is an element highly malleable, so much it allows you to easily channel feelings through it," Ventus said. "However, due to its ties with negative emotions, it can make your own heart unstable if you use your emotions as an enhancer."

"So, you mean that Presea..." Marta started. Surprisingly, it was Lumen who completed, with a rare serious look on his cheetah face.

"If she doesn't cool down, Shadow's power will take over her heart."

Colette was about to say something when the group heard a loud "THUD". They turned and saw Kaliar had hit the floor after Presea had jumped, grabbed one of his horns and threw him over her, breaking the horn and making the transformed Desian's body impact with the floor. He still got up, but slower this time and had to go on all fours.

The Desian's face was full of bruises and he had several cuts and injuries along his body, making his fur coated with blood. Presea simply stood in her place, staring at the Desian with her glowing yellow eyes. The wolf-Desian then smirked as he plunged his hand on the ground and the five spikes dug through the ground until they reached Presea and shot out of the earth, impaling the reincarnated Shadow.

The party gasped as the other Desians smirked. However, their smiles soon turned into expression of horror when Presea started moving again, grabbing two of the spikes and breaking them with her bare hands. Kaliar roared in pain again as he retracted the other spikes on Presea. He looked at his hand with the broken claws while Presea landed, still with the claws on her body, removing them like it was nothing.

"How did she… ?" Marta asked, not being able to complete her sentence.

"Her body seems to have turned into dark matter," Raine thought aloud. "This is not good…" she added, gritting her teeth.

Colette looked from the group to Presea. She wanted to help, but there was a high chance that she would be attacked if she approached the two combatants and getting attacked certainly wouldn't help Presea to calm down.

Kaliar charged at the reincarnated Shadow again, jumping in the air, ready to slash at her with his remaining claws, but Presea thrust her hand forward, fingers extending and forming sharp tips that skewered the Desian General, making him stop in mid air. Kaliar coughed blood once more at having three vital points pierced. He was about to throw a hateful insult at Presea when five more sharp appendages from her other hand impaled him once more, piercing his throat and lungs, silencing the half-demon once and for all.

The group stared as blood started to drip and run on Presea's extended fingers. Then, to their surprise, she smiled. It was a curved and cruel smile, her mouth another yellow line of glowing light amidst her body enveloped by wispy darkness. When it seemed the reincarnated Shadow finally had enough of that, several spikes ripped from inside Kaliar's body, making blood rain on the ground. The group saw these were formed from Presea's extended fingers.

With a final motion of her hands, Presea moved her spiked fingers away, tearing the corpse of the half-demon apart, gore and limbs raining on the earth. The remains then turned into chaos energy and disappeared. The remaining Desians were shaking on their feet as Presea slowly turned to them, smile vanishing in the darkness that now composed her body as she stared at them, seeming to be analyzing their very souls. One of the Desians gulped and, in a final effort to carry out their orders, ordered the others to attack and avenge their general.

Presea lifted her arm with her palm upwards. A sphere of darkness formed above her hand as the Desians charged at her, ignoring the other reincarnated Summon Spirits and the village of Ozette. Presea then widened her eyes and dark tendrils shot from the sphere, impaling the bodies of the several Desians like they were made out of paper and lifting most bodies in the air with the force of the impact. In seconds, the entire troop was killed, like pigs in a slaughterhouse.

Colette decided that was enough when she saw Presea giving another cruel smile while the Desians were skewered by the dark tendrils. The blonde girl then shouted:

"PRESEA STOP! THAT'S ENOUGH!"

It seemed the pink haired girl had heard her, for her eyes widened as soon as Colette stopped speaking and the dark tendrils faded immediately, letting the Desians fall to the ground in heaps. While the corpses disappeared, Presea fell forward, the darkness around her body dispelling as she was back to her normal form, sans hair style.

Colette and the others ran to her when she hit the floor. Raine immediately started to check for any wounds. Finding none, she sighed in relief. It seemed Presea's aura had also gone back to how it was thanks to Colette.

They heard the pink haired girl mumbling as she opened her eyes, slowly getting into a sitting position. Colette was immensely relieved at seeing Presea was alright. Emil was the first to ask in concern:

"Presea, are you ok?"

"Yes… I… think so…" the girl said with some hesitance. What had just happened? She remembered battling with Kaliar and killing him and then the Desians, but it all was a blur to her.

It was then the sound of an arrow cutting through the air was heard. Presea looked up and saw it coming in the direction of her face, but it was intercepted by Sheena in mid-flight. The ninja grabbed the arrow and looked from where it came to see several of Ozette's citizens back, most of them with terrified looks on their faces. She saw one of them with a bow and glared at him as she said:

"What are you doing? You could have killed her!"

"SHUT UP! That monster has to die!" one man said, stepping forward. "Just look at what she did to our village!"

"'She'? Are you that dumb or what?" Zelos said, his expression one of anger. If there was something that he simply couldn't stand was people bullying or attacking defenseless girls. "Do you have some form of amnesia? Because that would explain why you just forgot the Desians were the ones who…"

"She made them come here. I heard that Desian General guy saying he was after her," the woman that had been close to the priest when he was surrounded said. "And everybody knows she killed her father. She's nothing more than a murderer and a monster!"

Presea's eyes widened at having those words thrown at her face again, this time with the support of the entire village. She started to remember the battle… and the satisfaction she felt at killing Kaliar and the Desian like they insects. She looked at her hands with an expression of shock in her face. She could even see blood in them, although they were clean.

Marta had enough of that too and stood up, yelling at the people of Ozette:

"You don't know what really happened, so shut up! Can't you see she's suffering? If she is a monster, then why would she feel so depressed and guilty over her father…"

"Shut up you too, bitch!" one man carrying an ax yelled. Emil and Marta widened their eyes as the blonde felt Ratatosk growling. The reincarnated Lord of the Monsters had to use all of his will power to keep his old self from beating the man to a bloody pulp, although he himself was starting to consider the idea.

"You're outsiders, you have no right to speak," the Innkeeper said. "And you brought a half-elf with you! I bet she was the one that gave the signal for the Desians to come."

Many people voiced their approval of the claim. Raine remained as calm and stoic as always, like she was accustomed to the scene. Lloyd and Sheena were already tired of hearing all of that crap and when two men stepped forward, weapons bared, they also drew their weapons. Their expressions made the men stop on their tracks.

"You touch Presea or any other of my friends and I won't forgive you," Lloyd said, his expression a cold, angry one. "And if you want to toss the blame around, how about starting with yourselves? Wasn't Ozette a slave-trading center of half-elves?"

"Those creeps are unnatural. They shouldn't even be born in the first place," the priest of the Cruxis Church said. "They will soon receive the judgment of heavens for their crimes!" more people voiced their approval at the speech. "Now, you all get out of our village or else we will… !"

That had been the last straw to Ratatosk and Emil himself was also feeling quite angry at how those people blamed them and Presea. Their combined anger let Ratatosk take over and approach the priest at high speed, turning into a blur. When everybody realized what had happened, Ratatosk was holding the priest by the collar of his cloak, raising him in the air, almost choking him.

"Or else what, fucker?" Ratatosk said, his voice one of anger and his expression an intimidating one. "You wanna fight?"

"Ugh… you… brat…" the man said. "Cruxis will punish this affront of…"

"You know what? I'm sick tired of hearing you spouting your crap about Cruxis," Ratatosk then brought one hand back, still holding them man with his other and partially drew his sword. "I'm going to show you the true judgment of heavens!"

"STOP!" this time, it was Presea who shouted, making everybody in the plaza look at her, including Ratatosk, who still holding the man with one hand, while his other was on the handle of his sword. "Please… no more deaths… I don't want any of this," Presea's tone was a tearful one and her eyes were wet as she looked pleadingly at Ratatosk.

The Lord of the Monsters looked from her to the priest. He then let out a huge sigh of annoyance and let the man fall to the ground without ceremony. The priest scrambled to the crowd and Neil stepped forward, speaking:

"You leave our village too, you father-killing freak! It's because of you this happened," the people nodded in approval to the boys words, some calling Presea names as cruel as the ones said by the boy.

Ratatosk was starting to consider giving the child a good spanking, however Presea finally let her tears ran and sprinted out the plaza in the direction of her house. The group could just watch as she left the scenery. Colette was about to speak something when the sound of weapons colliding was heard. She looked to Ratatosk and saw he was holding back an ax held by a lumberjack. Ratatosk shoved the weapon, but more men stepped forth.

"You don't think you can get away like this. We demand some compensation for the damage you bastards caused!" one man said.

These guys simply can't let it go, can they? Raine sighed and Zelos shook his head as they thought the same thing.

Ratatosk eyed them. He closed his eyes and opened them again. This time, it was Emil who spoke:

"You think you know what monsters are like?" with that, he spoke in a commanding voice. "Centurions!"

Lumen, Tenebrae and the other Centurions all appeared, startling the citizens of Ozette. The servants of Ratatosk acknowledge his command and summoned several monsters of their elements, forming a cordon around the people, keeping them away from the reincarnated Summon Spirits.

Emil turned to the group and started to instruct them:

"Sheena, Lloyd, you go and take our things at the Inn. The rest of us are going to find Presea."

Marta could just look at the blonde in wonderment. There was something about Emil acting like a leader and taking the front like this that made him look very handsome. She suppressed the urge to throw her arms around him as Lloyd and Sheena nodded and went to the building.

The group followed Emil to Presea's cottage and arrived in time to see her leaving the building in a hurry. They ran after her just to stop in surprise when a dark portal suddenly opened ahead of her. She didn't look like she would avoid it.

"Presea, wait!" Colette called, but Presea either ignored or didn't hear her as she entered the portal. The group tried to follow, but it closed before they could reach the mass of swirling darkness.

"Damn. We were too late," Zelos cursed.

"This is a problem. That portal could have taken her to anywhere in the world," Raine said.

"I seriously doubt it," Ratatosk said, taking the control again. The group looked to him as he turned to them. "There isn't enough darkness energy spread around the world to allow long-distance teleportation. At best, she might have reached the coast line."

"So, how can we find her?" Marta asked.

"I can use my monsters to track down the flow of energy and her aura signature. Tenebrae will be able to tell us where she is with no problem."

"In that case, let's leave. It's not prudent to stay around Ozette any longer," Raine suggested as the group nodded and waited for Lloyd and Sheena to come back.

While they did, Colette was becoming worried sick with the way Presea had just left. She just hoped they could reach the girl before she did anything reckless like… no. She shouldn't think like that.

- / - / - / - / - / -

Presea didn't know how she had ended up here. She just knew that she wanted to get as far away as possible from Ozette and next thing she knew, she was in the forest at the other side of the mountains that surrounded the village.

Presea sat down in a rock and hunched her head over her body, while covering her face with her hands, crying once more.

Why do all of these things have to happen? Why me? was all that the young girl could think of. I didn't ask for any of this... I never wanted any of this power. I would give anything for everything to go back to the way it was.

However, she knew it was impossible. One couldn't change the past. Her father was dead, killed by her. Her sister hated her, no matter what anybody said. The people in the village thought of her as a murderer and a monster. And even if all of this hadn't happen she wouldn't be able to live a normal life due to her liking women, which would certainly gain the aversion of the people of Ozette and probably the church either way.

At any angle she looked at, she would eventually cause problems for her daddy and her sister, the two people she loved more than anything… or used to… she didn't even know if she would be capable of feeling it ever again thanks to…

It was then it became clear to her. Shadow's soul... everything started because of it. If she hadn't tried to absorb Shadow's soul in the Temple of Darkness, none of this would have happened. If she didn't have it, she wouldn't be hearing the dead, she wouldn't be a Summon Spirit like Colette said she was and she wouldn't feel like this.

"I wish I had never had Shadow's soul inside of me," Presea said out loud, to nobody in particular.

"That can be arranged," a voice answered her. Presea looked up in alarm and turned to the side.

There, standing in the forest ground, was a boy who looked no older than herself (physically). He had silver hair arranged in spikes with two, longer strands falling over his front and aqua-blue eyes very similar to Raine's. He was using a long, pale-blue cloak with a swallowed tail and silver runes sewed on it, a black shirt and dark-blue pants with a silver belt holding it. He also had grey gloves with yellow symbols engraved at their back and maroon shoes with the back part more elongated. At his neck was some short of silver collar with more symbols engraved in it.

However, what impressed Presea the most was the fact that she couldn't feel his presence at all. In fact, she hadn't even noticed he was near her until he spoke. Could it be he was hiding it from her? Also, there was a strange look on his eyes. They were cold and calculating, like he was analyzing her constantly.

The boy then spoke, his voice devoid of emotion and containing an analytical coldness that no boy his age could possibly possess:

"Greetings, Presea Combatir. My name is Genis Sage," he then gave her a devious smirk, one of who had the situation under his complete control. "So, is it true that you would be willingly to part with Shadow's soul?"

End of Act III

---

Cruel Cliffhanger Alert! I have basically gone from creating evil cliffhangers to outright cruel ones.

Now all of the main, canon cast has been revealed, however, as you all can see, their situation and positions are different from those in the games, one way or the other.

Anyway, see you all next year folks! Happy new year for you all!