Fanfic: Suikoden Fantasy ch 2

[tovath]

I hope you enjoy and give C+C on this chapter

past chapters are here http://www.suikosource.com/phpBB3/viewt ... 68&t=12142


Chapter 2 Meetings

o Chris o

The first thing that Chris noticed as she woke up was the amount of pain she was in. It was a lot, but as she remembered what had happened she realized that she should be in even more pain then she was. That was odd there must be someone with a Water Rune around. She looked around, Her sword was leaning against the wall next to the bed she was in. and there were other beds nearby. Some of them were quite rudely built and others weren't although they all were battered up. It was much the same for the rest of the room.

The smell of cooking food was all though the room and Chris lifted her head to try and find out where the smells were coming from. She was amazed at how much energy that took but she was able to see a group of people, mostly kids, over at the other side of the room.

One of them noticed her and came over. At first Chris thought that her eyes were not working properly, but no the woman's hair was actually green. She knew that this woman's name was Terra Branford, but how did she know this. There were other things in her memory now that she had no way of knowing. She would have to think about those later. She had to ask, she was the Captain of the Zexen Knights be able to get back.

“Where am I?”

“Molbiz” said Terra

“Never heard of it.” What had happened before she ended up here, was that memory about the two worlds combining correct. “Where is Molbiz?”

“I would be surprised if you had. It is nearby Nor now.”

Chris wasn't sure exactly where Nor was, although she had heard of it, small farming village wasn't it. There were so many thoughts crowding Chris' mind right now that it was hard to decide which to think about first. She felt tired and hungry. It might be best to take care of those first.

“How do you feel?” asked Terra interrupting her thoughts

Chris' head was wirling so badly now that she could barely hear what Terra was saying, “Awful, your name is Terra isn't it?”

“It is. And you are Chris? Do you feel like having something to eat or drink? Katrin cooked a good meal.”

“Yes, please.”

The food she was brought was prepared a little oddly, but Chris hardly noticed. After the food was eaten she had intended to think about everything that had happened and all this new information she had gotten somehow, but she fell back asleep instead.

o Celes o

Celes woke up just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. It was odd waking up in a bed again, last time that had happened things had not turned out well. Waking up to find that it had been a year and the world was dieing because she hadn't been fast enough to stop Kefka was not fun, she thought as she sat up. Celes shook her head. Nothing good was going to come from dwelling on these thoughts. She had to keep moving and find the others Terra, Edgar, Cyan and... Locke, especially Locke.

Lily was still asleep and she looked like she would be for several hours yet. Last night Lily had complained long and hard about sharing rooms, but there wasn't another room to had and Sabin had been insistent. Quite odd since he didn't seem to care about his royal heritage. Yet he did argue with Lily despite the fact he was risking them not having a place to sleep.

Celes slipped out of the room without waking Lily. From the look of things she would have time for a full morning practice today, which was good because she had yet to regain the muscle mass that she had lost during that year was unconscious. That was not good. She needed to be in top form for when things got serious, and they would they always did.

So first streching, then basics, then on to more complacted moves. Celes was nearing the end of her exercises when she heard a sound behind her. She whirled to meet... the weaponless older man. She pulled her strike before it hit him.

“Don't get behind me like that.” There was a young boy about twelve next to the man. His eyes were quite wide. What would he have thought if she hadn't pulled the strike. “sorry,” that was a hard word to say, “Why are you here?”

“I am Salome Harras of the Zexan Knights. I was told that you are Celes Cher.”

Celes nodded as she sheathed her sword. He didn't seem at all fazed that he had almost lost his head.

“Good,” he said in response to her nod, “You had talked about finding Lady Chris.”

“And Terra, as I told Leo and Percival yesterday the chances of success are rather low.” Celes found herself drawing up into parade rest as she spoke and forced her body to relax, even if her mind would not. If Salome noticed this he gave no indication of it.

“I am aware of this, but what exactly are your plans?”

Now that was the tricky part Celes hadn't had any real defined plan since she woke up on that island and found out what Kefka had done to the world. She wasn't going to say that though. “Going to follow the strip of land that has all of the dying plants and dangerous monsters until it dead ends or we find a town. They should have some information.” That last part was a lie, she had no way of knowing if they would know anything.

Salome didn't say anything about stupidity of the 'plan' although she had expected him to, instead he commented on the part that made sense.. “I presume that following the dying plants is to make sure that you stay within the land of your world.” Celes nodded and he asked her if she and her companion could ride.

A bit of a change of topic Celes thought. She had been one of the few people in the Empire who could ride a Chocobo although she mostly been trained as infantry due to the difficulty of getting them, for reasons that she knew quite well now. As for Sabin she couldn't imagine a prince of Figaro not knowing how to ride one. She nodded

“Good it will take some time to gather supplies. Let us meet here at the noon bell.”

“Right, can I ask who exactly will be accompanying Sabin and I?” Celes asked.
'Try and find out about the people you will be working with beforehand' was good advice that Celes hardly ever followed, but she would this time.

“Roland Lesaurus and Percival Fraulein.” he left with that boy following close behind.
Celes gave one moments thought to wondering who the boy was before turning her thoughts to gathering information. She would need Sabin's help with this.

o Thomas o

How was he suppose to deal with this. Thomas took a deep breath to calm down. It had been a long day all ready and the sun wasn't even high in the sky yet. The only thing that hadn't happened was what he had been half expecting to happen. First he was told a story about this world combining with another by a visiting mercenary named Gedoe. Thomas hadn't been sure of what to think of this then. So when Sabestion had come to tell him that a delegation from Nor had come to see him he left. An actual delegation had come, not just one woman looking for her child, of course he went to see what they needed. He said he would help them and went to go find Gedoe again, but he was unable to.

Nor had been attacked by monsters yesterday. It had been saved from destruction by someone named Terra. This Terra had told the village elder the exact same things that Gedoe had just told him, except for one thing Gedoe had hinted that something was different with magic. All Piccolo was able to say about this was that he could no longer see into the future. Thomas assured him that he would have a place here weather or not he could predict the future, but Piccolo was still worried and not just about his livelihood either.

How was he suppose to handle this. Thomas had never expected to be Castle Master before he ended up here. His mother, he so wished she was still alive, had said it was best to break big problems into smaller problems. Maybe if he wrote down the problem and broke it up that would help him figure out what to do, besides he thought better with a quill in hand.

After fetching some paper Thomas started writing. “So first what was the big problem? That this world combined with another. Why did-” Thomas stopped ans crossed out the last two words he had wrote. That was not the right question. It doesn't matter right now how this happened. What mattered was the effects this has had. He wrote down effects and under that “there are more monsters around, this is known from report by villagers of Nor. Unknown effect on magic, known from Gedoe.” Gedoe hadn't been very specific on some points and now he was gone.

Wait, the people of Nor had said someone named Terra had told them some of the same things that Gedoe had told him, talking with her might answer some questions.

o Chris o

The sound of people moving around is what woke up Chris this time. She opened her eyes to see that she was in the room that she dimly remembered being in last night. There were two things that she noticed right away that somehow escaped her notice before. One was that this room was underground. The other was that she wasn't wearing anything but bandages.

A young woman with sandy blonde hair who looked to be about seventeen was nearby. Best to ask her before panicking about this fact.

“Where are my clothes?”

“Terra had to cut them off you to heal you.” See no reason to panic, good. “Here, I'll get you some new ones.”She turned and pulled some out of a nearby chest. “Don't worry I made sure Duane wasn't looking at you last night. I'm Katrin.”

Chris sat up slowly and put on the clothes, trying to keep her face from flushing at that last piece of information. They were so worn that they were as soft as a linen would be, even though they were rough homespun. “You made the food last night didn't you.”

Katrin looked a bit surprised at this. “Yes, I guess you were as out of it as you looked.”

“I just have a good memory for names.” That ability had stood Chris is good steed many times in the past.

Terra came over. I wasn't imagining that last night. Her hair is green I wonder why?

“Thank you for watching her, Katrin.” said Terra “It is good to see you awake. How are you feeling Chris?”

“Fine” worn out and I am not sure what is going on. I need to get back.

“Let's see what your arm looks like then.” When Terra unwrapped the bandages from Chris' left arm all that was there was a few half healed scars. Chris had been expecting worse, even though she hadn't been any pain from her arm.

“You are a good healer.” she told Terra, “Where did you train?”

“I just kinda picked it up.” Terra looked like she was going to say more but were interrupted by the sounds of a disagreement between two of the kids, which Terra had to go settle.

“My mother used to do the same thing when I was little.” said Chriswhen Terra came back, “Are any of them yours?”

Terra shook her head, “Their parents died. Kefka killed them.”

“Well at least they have someone who loves them.”

Terra had this look of shock on her face then she started to smile, “Yes they do, thank you.”

“I was wondering if you had any idea about this,” Chris searched for the right word, “information, like the fact we know each others names.”

“I don't know.” Terra paused like she was worried, “What do you think happened to the espers? All I got was a flash of a symbol.”

Espers, where have I...oh right those beings I saw Maduin, Ifrit and others thought Chris “Kefka did something to the Elemental Runes and they fixed it, I think. Is it important?”

From the look on Terra's face, yes it was, but she didn't say that just, “Probably not, He was already dead.”

o Sarah o

Luc had been sealed up by the barbarians. Sarah was sure of that fact, but she wasn't sure about much else that had happened that night.

Luc had found the Front Gate Rune several days earlier and because of this decided to revise his plans some. The new plan looked like it would end in fewer deaths. Him and Sarah would have to keep the changes a secret from the others in their group though. Yuber was unlikely to like the not killing part and Albert wouldn't think the new plan showed off his skills as a strategist well enough.

Everything went fine at first. They showed up at Alma Kinan and Luc threw the Front Gate Rune at the Alma Kinan's sacrifice. The first sign that things had gone wrong was that Luc clasped his Rune arm in pain. It ended with Luc and that crazy dangerous man sealed up and Sarah over here somehow.

Here was the Cult of Kefka's Tower. That crazy dangerous man that had been sealed up with Luc was named Kefka. These people here thought , for some reason, that he was their god. It did not matter why, she would play along until she was able to save Luc.

o Celes o

“I have been asking around about the knights. Apparently Roland is an elf, which some think this is a bit odd since elves are a bit standoffish normally. Seems that there are a number of nonhuman races around here.” said Sabin leaning on the table as the two of them waited for the knights.

They were talking about the facts they had found out about the Zexan Knights and other things. One thing was sure, things were very different in this new world.

“That is a change. Doing better with interspecies relations then some aren't they?” The Empire had committed genocide on the espers. They hadn't been able to stop Kefka.

“Yes thing is I think non humans are truely different species then humans. They can't interbred. I got some weird looks from Reed asking about that too.” Sabin was smiling though so obviously the weird looks weren't bothering him.

Celes had read every piece of information that the Empire had collected consering espers. It was in her best interest to do so.“Wonder if that text about the Warring Triad transforming humans into espers was true?”

“It would explain things.” for a moment it looked like Sabin was going to say more but they were interrupted before he did.

Lily came up “What are you two talking about?”

“None of your business.” Celes wasn't sure what Lily would think of their conversation, but it would probably be something stupid.

Lily actually managed to look offended at that, maybe if she hadn't been barging in on a private conversation she would actually be believed.“Well if we are traveling together it is.”

“We won't be traveling together anymore.” said Celes getting up from the table so she would have a height advantage if Lily was going to start a confrontation.

“What just because I want to know what you are talking about?” said Lily her voice rising

“Lily, We have other things that need to do and so we will going a different direction then you.” said Sabin, “We have to part company here.”

“You two don't even know what direction I am traveling, now do you? Well do you?”

“It makes no difference to me.”returned Celes crossing her arms.

Two knights in odd heavy armor came up. One of them was Percival. “How are you doing today Celes, Sabin?” he said.

“Good, We better get moving if we want to make any time today.” replied Celes, glad to have something else besides Lily to concentrate on and wanting to get going.

“Hey where would you be going with the Zexan Knights? How do you even know them anyway?” getting no response from Celes, Lily turned to the Knights, “Well why do you want to have anything to do with her?”

The one with pointy ears who Celes assumed was Roland said, “She wants to help us find Lady Chris.”

“What her? Then I am coming along. Chris is my friend and I will help find her.”

“No, you'll only slow us down.” Celes said as she reached down to grab her small pack. Let's get going.

”I will not. How could you say such a thing?” Celes just ignored the idiot's skreecking.

They were shown outside where there were some of the most odd looking creatures. They stood two heads taller then a Chocobo and they had four legs instead of two. They also had fur, not feathers. Yet these things had saddles and packs on them just like a Chocobo would.

It was better to feel like a fool for asking a question then to not ask the question that needed to be asked, so Celes asked “What are those?”

“Horses, I thought you said you could ride?”

“Yes I can ride, but I have never seen these horses before.”

“Then what is it that you know how to ride?”

Sabin answered that question, for he would be able to give a much better answer then Celes would, being that he was a prince of Figaro. “Chocobos. They are avian mounts that can run at high speeds.”

“So there are more things that are different between the worlds then just the magic?” asked Percival.

“Yes quite a few things.”said Celes and your fellow knight is one of them.

Lily had to butt in then “Well if you don't know how to ride then I won't be slowing you down now will I?”

Lily was not going to go away was she. “You have to do your share of the work.”

“How dare you imply that I would do something like that?” yelled Lily tossing back her hair.

This is just too tempting. ”I didn't imply anything,” Said Celes, “I stated it outright.”

“Was that a joke I just heard Celes?” said Sabin.

“Of course not, everyone knows I have no sense of humor.”

o Terra o

There was a spot in Molbiz that Terra went to when she wanted to be alone. It used to overlook the sea, but that was not true anymore. All the kids knew to leave her alone when she was there.

Feeling lost and adrift without any idea what to do was nothing new for Terra. It was the first thing she remembered feeling when she woke up in Narshe. The feeling was different now and worse in some ways. Before she didn't know who she was but now she had people she was responsible for. Her mother had died trying to protect her from Gestahl and now Terra knew why, because she would be willing to do the same for any of the kids under her care. It was good to finally understand that. Terra doubted that Chris even knew how much it meant to her, when she pointed out that Terra's feelings were actually love.

Chris had not been able to tell her anything about what happened to her father though or his spirit rather. Maduin had died over a year ago from from the Empire's draining tanks, but his spirit still lived on inside of a piece of magicite. He had helped Terra come to an understanding of her powers from there.

Terra once again wished that one of her friends was here. She just knew that there was so many things that she could be doing to help the kids here, but she didn't know what they were. Staying here wasn't going to help anything, but going elsewhere was dangerous. What should she do. If only she had more information, but she didn't even know where to start.

When Terra came back inside some of the kids were asking Chris for another story. Chris was looked like she was recovering just fine.

“They seem to think you are a good storyteller.” Terra said as she came up to the bed.

Chris shock her head, “I didn't do the story justice. It was one of the stories my mother used to tell me before she died of that illness.

“You still have a father, don't you?” said Terra hoping she was right about that.

“He disappeared when I was little before my mother took ill actully. Part of the reason I was in the Grasslands was that someone told me that I would find him if I searched for the Flame Champion.”

“Um what do you mean by the Grasslands? From what I saw you were in a forest.” Terra sat down on the bed that was next to Chris'.

“Oh, I guess you wouldn't know about the geography of this world would you.”

“You mean where things are? No I wanted to talk with you about that.”

They were interrupted by Capsan coming in from his lookout spot, “Mama, there's some people coming.”

“What sorta people?” asked Terra

“Um, people like people. One of them's wearing armor.”

“Ok let me go see. You stay here. Keep the door closed until I say otherwise.”

Terra wasn't sure what to expect. Would these people end up helping them or would they bring destruction to this little community. She didn't know but she would protect the kids with her life if need be. She knew why she felt this way too now.

The first thing Terra saw when she got outside was the most awkward suit of armor Terra had ever seen. It looked much too heavy and it didn't seem to fit its owner right. Next to that person was another, a young man with an earnest face. They didn't look like they could bring destruction to anything.

“Hello, I am Thomas, The Castle Master of Budehec Castle. We heard you were out here.”

There was a pause. Am I suppose to introduce myself now? “I'm Terra Branford. I guess you could say I'm the mayor of Molbiz.” I think that is the right word to use.

There was a roar and all the sudden it felt like the very earth was vibrating under the footsteps of a great beast. It was Phubaba. Phunbaba was one of the monsters that had been released when Kefka caused the world to come undone. He was the biggest threat, for the eight dragons were far away and Doom Gaze usually didn't attack people on the ground. This time Terra would fight him. She had no choice. She just hoped that these people here would be able to help.

o Chris o

Chris pulled herself out of the bed she was in and grabbed her sword. She needed to help Terra.

“Are you sure you should be up?” asked Katrina

“I can help. People respect the Zexan Knights.” It was a bit much at times, but could prove useful for once today. The only group she couldn't help with were the Grasslanders, admittedly for good reason, but it wasn't them that Terra was dealing with now, for they didn't wear armor.

Chris tried to ignore how weak and shaky her legs felt as she crossed the room and started up the stairs. Halfway up she forgot all about being tired, due to hearing the sounds of fighting. She rushed up the rest of the stairs.

The scene outside was thus. Terra was facing a giant monster, her sword looking rather puny compared to the monsters bulk. The monster had obviously just swatted two people into a tree. One of them looked to be the castle master of that small little castle with the unpronounceable name.

Chris pulled some magic from her flowing rune, but what happened was blades of wind, not ice, hit the monster. That didn't make any sense. She had never had a wind rune afixed. She looked down at her hands, their were no runes on them. Then how was she able to use magic, especially a type that she not only didn't have the rune for, but had never received any training in.

These thoughts did not stop Chris from hitting the monster again with the wind blades. When she tried to move forward though she felt a wave of dizziness and she had to grab hold of the door frame to keep from collapsing. She didn't have to hold on for long, however. After Terra checked on the other two she came over and gave Chris a shoulder to lean on.

“Did you wear yourself out? You probably shouldn't even be up yet let alone lobbing magic around.” said Terra

Chris just nodded tiredly in response, glad someone seemed to know what was going on.

o Terra o

Phunbaba had backhanded Thomas and his guard into a tree in the first few moments of the fight. Now that Chris had taken care of Phunbaba Terra went to see if they were still alive.

“Are you alright?” she asked Thomas as he started to get up. He nodded. “Good it might be best if we finish talking inside.” Why did I say that. I wasn't planning to, it just slipped out. He has nice eyes. Well anyone who fights that badly isn't likely to hurt any of the kids.

Thomas' guard was fine too, her armor had protected her. Chris, on the other hand, looked worn out, but then she had just been throwing magic around. Terra knew feeling well and was in fact a bit glad to see it in Chris. For being tired was normal and seeing Chris tired meant it was likely that nothing was wrong with her magic. Right now though Chris could hardly stand and needed to sit down and have something to drink.

While Terra was helping Chris, Thomas came up. “I never knew you used a wind rune, Lady Chris.”

Chris replied that she didn't and had no in them. This left Terra wondering what exactly these rune s that people keep talking about whenever magic came up were. The next thing Thomas said though made any thoughts of runes leave her mind.

“I heard that magic changed somehow, but still.”

If magic has changed then I might lose control of my power again... No I won't let that happen. Terra tried to keep her voice from trembling as she asked how magic had changed.

Thomas' reply was simple and not very helpful, “Um, I don't actually know. I was hoping you could tell me.”

Before Terra had enough presence of mind to ask what he meant by that Chris spock up, “I think it would be best to speak about this in a more organized fashion. Terra, do you have a room we could use for a meeting?”

Terra replied that she did and then lead them down the stairs to where everyone lived, still helping to support Chris. The stairs would not be a good place for her to stumble and fall. When they got downstairs Cecile said something Terra did not catch, but Katrin obviously did.

“Nothing, this is not nothing. If it wasn't for Terra then we wouldn't have even this.” Terra's face flushed, she hadn't done that much had she.

“Sorry I didn't mean it that way.” said Cecile, “Um I'll go guard the door.”

As Cecile was leaving Terra explained, “I am going to be talking with Chris and Thomas in my room, Katrin.”

“Then I am coming too.” said Katrin, “You shouldn't have a strange man in you room without a chaperone.”

A what, Terra thought, I have never heard that word before. How does it have anything to do with talking about magic?

Chris seemed to understand what Katrin was talking about though. It turned out that a chaperone was a married woman, like Katrin. Why exactly a chaperone was needed escaped Terra right now, but Katrin seemed to think it was important. No one seemed ready to argue the point, so Katrin came along.

First thing Terra did once they were in her room was to make sure that Chris sat down on the bed and got something to drink. Chris was then the one that started off the meeting.

“First Thomas, you say that magic has changed, how?” That was exactly what Terra wanted to know too.

“Um, this might sound odd, but an older man with black hair an an eyepatch over one eye told me. He was rather unspecific about what was different. The reason I think what he said was true is that the rest of what he said matches up with what Terra told the villagers of Nor.” Thomas turned to Terra, “Thank you for helping them by the way.”

“I didn't do much of anything.” It was just a just a couple of Buffalax. They were easy with her magic...Wait a minute...

While Terra had been thinking Chris had asked if that man was Gedoe and explained about the knowledge they had gotten when the worlds combined, but Terra wasn't paying much attention to this because she was wondering why she could use magic again.

Chris cut though Terra's thoughts bay asking, “Terra have you noticed any changes?”

“Changes, you mean in magic? Yes, there was some magic that I hadn't been able to use for most of the past year that I can use again now.”

“So you have full use of your powers again now?” asked Chris.

Terra shock her head. “I haven't tried all of them.”

“Why not try them now?” asked Thomas

Terra paled, “That would not be a good idea.” Terra replied.

“Um, all right, if you say so.” said Thomas, “So it might be best if we know how magic worked in your world first.”

“It's complicated.” How was she suppose to explain I properly without something bad happening. “The Warring Triad gave magic to the espers before they sealed themselves up in stone. So all magic comes from espers.”

Katrin decided to speak up now, Why now I am having enough trouble getting the words out of my mouth “But that's just an old legend-”

“I wish Gestahl had believed that.”Terra's eyes filled with tears as she thought of the pain everyone would have been spared from if only Gestahl hadn't decided to seek magic.

Chris brought the conversation back on topic. “What happened to those statues?”

“The statues that were the Warring Triad you mean,” At Chris' nod Terra said,”You would know better then me.”

Chris looked down at her arm. “How does stone explode? when it isn't actually stone.” she said so quietly it could hardly be heard then louder “I guess that explains why I can use magic without a Rune now doesn't it?”

Terra nodded, “You got very lucky. I...I think that some others that got infused didn't fare well.” Those were the dreams that really hurt, even more then the ones about killing while she was wearing the Slave Crown. The ones where they were still working on the infusion process. They would bring the ones they made mistakes on down to where she was kept to see if they could figure out what they did wrong. It hurt, a lot. What was worse now was remembering the faces of the other children. They were just too close to the faces of the kids here.

“So this has happened before?” Chris sounded scared but a bit hopeful too. Why? There was nothing good about this.

“No, no one has ever been hit with pieces of one of the statues before.” Terra stammered out

Chris leaned forward “Then what were you talking about Terra, please tell me.”

Terra didn't know how to explain the things she could not truly remember and her throat was so tight that she doubted she would be able to get any words out even if she knew what to say.

Terra ran out of the room.

o Thomas o

Terra ran out of the room. Lady Chris and Thomas both looked at Katrin hoping that she would have some idea of why Terra had just run off.

She just shook her head, “Terra never talks about her past.”

“You mean she isn't from here.” asked Lady Chris.

“No she just came wandering in shortly after Kefka's Light of Judgement killed...” Katrin stopped for a moment then started again, “Terra said she got separated from her friends. I'm pretty sure Kefka killed them, her friends that is, whoever they were. She started helping us and the reason we are still all alive is because of her help.”

“Oh, so you don't... Now is not the time to talk about this.” Lady Chris tried to stand up, but fell back onto the bed.

It was fairly obvious what she wanted to do, so Thomas said. “I'll go see if I can find Terra.”

Lady Chris nodded, “Good, Katrin can you talk to the others here and calm them down.”

Thomas didn't wait to ear Katrin's reply. He was up the stairs and out the door in moments.

Thomas asked his Commander of the Guards, “Did you see where Terra went, Cecile?”

“That way,” Cecile pointed to the left, “What is-”

It probably would not be the best thing to look like intimidating when he found Terra, like I could by having a guard with him “I'll explain later.” Thomas said as he ran off to the left.

Soon after he left Cecile behind, Thomas jumped at a sound in the bushes, but it turned out to just be a chipmunk. This is crazy. Thought Thomas, I am running around monster infested wildness with a sword I barely know how to use. He continued to look for Terra anyway. After another minute or so of searching he saw Terra's green hair out of the corner of his eye. Her hair was an odd color, but it seemed to fit her so well that it was hard to imagine it being any other color.

Is she crying?, “I'm sorry.”

Terra looked up at him with tear stained eyes, “Sorry, what for?”

“What ever made you run off.” Thomas scratched the back of his head feeling awkward, “If its something I said or did I am sorry for making you cry.”

“You are so completely different from anyone I have ever met before.” Terra was beautiful when she smiled, realizing this just made Thomas feel more awkward.

“Me, I'm nothing special. I can hardly fight. I don't know anything about being a leader. There's nothing special about me.”

“I'm sorry for running off like that. It's just...” Terra stopped talking looking sad again.

“You don't need to tell me unless you want to.”Thomas remembered one of the villagers saying Terra had a number of scars across her chest. I better change the subject to something else he thought, “It is a nice view from here.”

“Yes it is, it used to be of the sea though.” Terra said looking out over the land.

“Oh,” not another wrong topic, “sorry”

Terra stood up, “It's not a bad thing, some changes are good, maybe with you guys here we will be able to survive this coming winter.”

“Um for safetys sake the villagers of Nor are staying at Budehec over the winter. Would you like to do the same?”

“Yes that sounds like a good idea.” said Terra, “We better head back.”

o Celes o

Unsurprisingly and much to everyone's annoyance, it took a while to get organized. Celes couldn't even blame this on Lily. She had been on enough campaigns to know this always happened. In the end it looked like they would be going on foot after all. Outriders would not be of any use in this situation so there was no point in only some of them being mounted. Now would not be a good time to learn how to ride a new animal, there was no time. This was a bit of a problem for the knights for their heavy armor was not made for hiking long distances in. Celes was glad she had mostly been trained as infantry.

Between the late start they got and the fact that no one knew quite where the next town would be due to the worlds combining, the only one who was surprised that they ended up camping in the wilderness was Lily.

“We will need to set up watchs.” Celes stated after they set up camp for the night. “Lily you have first watch.”

“What why should I have to take a watch. I'll have you know that I am the daughter of the President of Tinto.” said Lily tossing her head.

“Never heard of it and even if there was a king here he would have to stand a watch too.” Well actully she wouldn't even have to say anything if Edgat was hear.

“Samus-” Called Lily. Surely she wasn't that much of an idiot.

Celes facepalmed, “You can't order one of your guards to stand watch for you?”

“I wasn't... Why not?” Said Lily glaring at Celes.

“They have to stand their own.” said Celes wondering just how stupid the girl was.

Lily's eyes flashed with anger. “Fine then, you have to stand it with me. That is what you people do right, have two people for each watch.”

“I was planning to take a later watch.” said Celes

“Well, you will taking first watch with me.”

Celes could hear laughing from behind her. “All right, fine.” I bet the idiot doesn't even know first watch is the easiest.

Celes looked over at the others. Sabin at least had the decency to pretend he hadn't been laughing moments before but Percival was grinning. It was hard to tell what Roland thought of events.

“I trust you jokers will be able to figure out the rest of the watch rotation yourselves.”

“Yeah, no problem.” said Sabin.

[Nikisaur]

Oh man, are you going to make a new topic for every chapter? It should probably be just the one topic for the whole story...Or like one topic with links to the story in the first post, so the Suikosource end of it is open for discussion/criticism/comments instead of hosting the story in its entirety. That would be a tidier way to do things?

[UberPendragon]

I can agree with Nikisaur, linking it all to one spot would make it much simpler for people to find you old chapters too. I like (www.blogpsot.com) because it always has up your newest chapter and if people want to go back and read everything is archived rather neatly. Also you can start multiple blogs for different fics and if you post anywhere else you can easily link that site to your fic also.
I enjoy this fic very much, it's very nostalgic to see so many people from Suikoden 3 and from Final Fantasy 6. I like the bit of mystery weaved in about them having knowledge of each other but not really knowing why yet. I still think you're spreading yourself thin to too many characters, but it's your fic your decision. I also think if you use your prose a little differently like separating from your dialogue completely to tell a character's thoughts, and having their thoughts be less like dialogue, you wouldn't need to shift back and forth between characters who are in the same place at the same time. Also some of what there thinking would work fine as dialogue and just be simpler that way. You have a nice and really original idea for a story, hope to see more.

[tovath]

Actually I do have this story hosted elsewhere. Here http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6476368/1/Suikoden_Fantasy as a matter of fact, but since I like to get some C+C before I post the finished version there I need to have someway to get it to you besides that.

So why do I do the topics the way I do, well, that is because it is standard practice at the other sites I go to, for example http://www.fukufics.com/viewforum.php?f ... eafe8820de However if you want to we can discuss the rules that this forum should have for submitting (That would be a good idea anyway )