Monday, August 7, 2006

   CHAPTER

Author’s Notes
ImperialGuardian: Just so you know, I don’t own Sailor Moon or Tales of Symphonia. Also, I’ve decided for the good of my clothing that today I will talk to Darien.

Darien: WHY?

ImperialGuardian: My next paycheck doesn’t come for two weeks. And don’t get me started on why Raye is sitting out, Darien. Besides, we need to make sure there’s enough of the Serena conflict going on today without me worrying about what I’m going wear tomorrow.

Darien: On that topic, how could you do this to MY Serena? You know I would never do that to her! And why is that Kratos guy being somewhat NICE to her? (fire in eyes)

ImperialGuardian: (backing away slowly) Maybe this wasn’t such a good choice…

Darien: (transforms) Get back here!

ImperialGuardian: (running away) I should have stuck with the fire! NOT THE SHIRT! NOT THE SHIRT!

Darien: (maniacal laughter) FEAR MY ROSES!

Yuan: (sighing) Yes, him and his sharp roses.

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LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING
Chapter 9: A Little Side-Quest, Part II

Serena trembled with nervousness as she looked at the test before her. Then, it suddenly vanished, as she saw it was only three questions.

“What skill did Kratos teach Lloyd at the Triet Ruins? What was 9.8 referring to when the group was on the Ossa Trail? Who are Lloyd’s parents?” Serena thought. “What kind of questions are these? And they even have three options? Oh man, this IS hard! But why is any of this relevant to their history? Oh no! How do I answer this?”

“Serena, if you really don’t know the answers to anything, just guess,” Raine explained softly. Serena sighed. Well, at least it was three questions.

“Okay, so the skill that Kratos taught Lloyd,” Serena thought, looking at Kratos. An answer popped in her head. “Guardian!”

She looked at the second question, and immediately recognized 9.8 from one of Amy’s many science lectures, so she prayed the answer was acceleration due to gravity. Then came the last question. She really hadn’t a clue who the first two options were, and one of the options was “I don’t know.”

“Oh well,” Serena thought with a sigh. “I guess I’ll just answer this one truthfully. I really don’t know who they are.”

As she turned in the test, she watched the others struggle with the test like it were truly difficult. As it all came to a close, Serena crossed her fingers. The others all waited as an old man graded the tests.

“All right,” he said. Genis and the boy beside him jumped up. Serena closed her eyes.

“First, Lloyd Irving, 29,” the old man said.

“Wow, that’s a new high score, right Lloyd?” Colette asked. Serena mentally sweatdropped. Even she scored higher than that in school.

“Uh, yeah,” Lloyd said with a laugh, embarassed.

“Colette Brunel, 296,” the old man continued.

“Wait, this test wasn’t worth 100?” Lloyd asked.

“It was out of 400,” Genis replied. “Weren’t you listening?”

“Uh, I guess not,” Lloyd said, as he sighed, embarassed.

“Raine Sage, 400,” the old man said.

“Nothing less than perfection from the professor,” Lloyd grumbled.

“Nice job Ms. Raine!” Serena added, trying to hide her worry with a smile.

“Kratos Aurion, 360.”

“He’s smart too,” Serena thought. “Well, that was obvious, but I guess this means he was good in school too.”

“Serena Tsukino, 400.”

Serena stopped, too shocked to speak. She had NEVER in her life ACED a test, not even a practice one. The highest score had been an 80, and that was after an extreme study session with Amy.

“Wow, good job Serena!” Colette applauded.

“And you said you were horrible with tests,” Lloyd moaned.

“I am,” Serena replied. “Why did I score so well?”

“It seems you have a better grasp on our history than you think,” Raine replied smugly.

“Those questions had nothing to do with history,” Serena thought. “Something about this place is wrong. But what is it? Other than me acing a test. Oh! Wouldn’t the girls—”

She stopped. The girls. It had been the first time they had crossed her mind since the incident. As the world moved around her, she had halted almost immediately. Her eyes were replaying the incident, the one that had led her to this world, this place. They had betrayed her, but why? They showed no signs of that nature even the day before. Why had them—and Darien—why had they been doing what they were? She felt the tears coming before they even rose in her eyes. Why had Darien betrayed her like he had? Why had her best friends done that to her?

“Serena?” a voice asked. It was Lloyd, as she realized what she was doing. She wiped away her tears quickly, and jumped to her feet.

“Genis won, right? Let’s go,” Serena said with a forced smile. “We got to go to that church and find out more about the seals!”

“You’re right,” Colette said quickly, covering for Serena, as the two started out the door. “Let’s go everyone!”

“How did she know Genis Sage won?” the old man asked, as the two blondes left the room. “I was just about to read the results.”

“Hooray!” Genis cheered. “I did it!”

“Why did she look like that?” Lloyd asked, curious.

“I wonder as well. However, they were right. We must move on,” Kratos said…

---

“Why?” Darien asked as he followed Zelos into the palace.

“If you get in good with the king, since you’re a prince, he’ll probably give you refuge in the castle,” Zelos said. “If you say you’ll marry the princess.”

“HOLD ON JUST A SECOND!” Darien roared, the guards jumping. “You know full well that I’m going to marry my princess. I can’t lie to him.”

Zelos laughed.

“I was just kidding. Man Darien, you need to lighten up. Actually, the king has been rather ill lately, but it would be rude not to introduce yourself, right?”

“Right,” Darien sighed, aggravated. This man would be the death of him. Nearby, he watched a girl dragging wood into the church. Her bubble-gum pink hair had almost immediately reminded him of Rini. “Rini? What’s she doing here?”

“Rini? That’s just some peasant girl who delivers the sacred wood,” Zelos replied, as Darien was drawn to the church where she had entered. “Hey Darien!”

Darien ignored Zelos, entering the church. Inside, the girl he had followed was actually leaving, as she looked up to him. This wasn’t Rini, since this girl had pale blue eyes. She stared at him strangely.

“Have we met?” she asked. Darien did a double take.

“Presea?” he whispered…

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“It’s time I gave you the news,” Trista said with a sigh. “It would seem that the others have been whisked off to a neighboring dimension.”

“WHAT?” everyone cried.

“They want the Silver Imperium Crystal for their own purposes, correct?” Luna asked, as Trista nodded.

“But why the others?” Artemis demanded.

“I was wondering that too,” Raye said softly.

“And what did they do to Raye?” Rini demanded.

“Now, now,” Trista said. “We’ll get to that, but allow me to finish. See, they came here to kidnap Serena originally. But then they saw an opening when they met with Raye. It seems that they were trying to revive a woman from the dead, named Martel. Her soul is still trapped in their stronghold known as Welgaia. Since she was not a normal mortal, it would require a certain type of person to resurrect her. In fact, they have a long line of humans they deceive through the ploy of being angels in order to get them to—breed—the Mana Lineage, as the humans call it. They praise Martel as a goddess. In fact, it’s a very well thought-out organization. As I was saying, when they saw Raye, they realized that this Mana Lineage was also found in other dimensions. They wanted to ensure her resurrection regardless of who perishes.”

“What does this crystal do?” Michelle asked, looking hesitantly to the Time Guardian.

“It robs a body slowly of its soul, of its humanity. And if this process is reversed, the wearer will sufferer could die of Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium, a rare disorder which crystallizes the body. In other words, that Cruxis Crystal on Raye’s chest is lethal.”

“So they came here for the Princess and they found more people for their stupid plot to resurrect that woman. Why didn’t they just use the Silver Imperium Crystal?” Amara demanded.

“They don’t know all of the crystal’s abilities,” Raye mused.

“They do not.”

“How do we save Raye Momma?” Hotaru asked.

“The only way to do that is to go to this neighboring dimension and look for a dwarf named Altessa. He’s the only one who can assist Raye,” Trista sighed. “Also, as to why they kidnapped the others, father was very unclear. He said they were useful to them somehow. Raye is here for safekeeping, so to speak. As long as they have her here she could lose her humanity without interruption or being informed.”

“Then we need to go save them!” Rini cried. “How do we get there Trista?”

“That’s the problem,” Trista sighed. “I could open a gate, but father forbid me from doing so. So the only way to do this is to wait for that man who confronted Raye to appear again, and to have him take us there.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Raye said.

“We’ll just ambush him the next time he shows up,” Amara replied.

“Easier said than done,” Raye sighed…

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Look at me! I can twirl a cane! WHEE!
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