Fan Fiction ❯ The Goddess Sagas ❯ Return ( Chapter 23 )

Chapter 23; Return

They had been traveling for around two months, Taromecika's forces had sent out many monsters to destroy them. The soul

snatches were waiting though, waiting for Hikari to find the best two possibilities she could for their last two chances.They did not want to waste any chance...doing so just might mean their deaths.

The spell on Ryan's group had wore off quite a while ago, and they were all glad to be back to their own gender. They were getting

closer to the village of `Felines.' Ryan however, was becoming almost heart broken, the closer they got to the village, and only Genki and Mimi understood why.

"…Hey, Ryan…what's wrong?" Lemon asked, childishly,

"Um…." Ryan began, but did not say anything else.

"Felines was Mara's home town." Genki explained to the rest of the group sadly.

"Yes…it must be hard…Ryan, you'll be ok?" Mimi frowned, looking up at him concerned.

"Yeah…let's just go…"

***********************************

"I finally found the next victim, percentage rate 97%." Hikari breathed tiredly.

"It's about time!" Lena grumbled, angrily.

"Yeah, next time hurry up!"

Hikari growled bitterly at Karl and Lena. ` I hope you both fail and die.'

**************************************

The group walked into town, all around them were cat people, the girls running around in short dresses, and the boys in baggy, cool clothes. This part of the world was always burning hot, even in the winter.

"WELCOME!!" Two cat-girls exclaimed, throwing flowers at them as soon as they entered the village.

"This is felines! It's always hot hear, and the beach is beautiful! Please enjoy your stay!" A dark cat smiled, but her tone sounded so rehearsed that Ryan could swear this was a performance of some kind.

A red cat took over the talking. " Please stay at the inn if your traveling, the beds are so comfortable!"

"Eat at the restaurants too! The food is wonderful! And everything is at a low, low price!"

The two cats chimed together. " And don't forget to play at the beach!"

"Hey! Hey! Can we have a holiday!" Lima exclaimed happily.

" We don't have time for such matters." Alex scolded.

"But Lima want…." The elf sniffled.

"Ah, we're going to be staying hear for a day anyway, so we might as well make the best out of it, Everyone, go do your own

thing, but don't wonder off----" Before Ryan was done talking everyone had already left him.

" Awww…Oh well, no one lessons to me anyway… I guess I'll just go for a walk…"

********************************

" Ah! Lima, finds this wonderful!" The elf exclaimed, as she laid in her short sexy dark green two piece bathing-suit on the sand, the sun warming up her already tanned flesh.

"Hey, baby, want to get something to drink?"

Lima opened her eyes to see a cat-man with curly golden hair and green eyes.

"Ahh!! What a cutie!! Sure…Lima would love to!"

"Great, Baby, come with me."

The two pair began to walk off the beach when a little cat-boy that looked like a mini-version of the older man.

"Brother, were are you going?"

"Oh…Opps…I forgot you were hear." The man said stupidly, looking at the little boy as if he was some kind of strange creature.

"Oh! What a cute kid! Lima wish she had a little brother!"

The man smirked. " Hey, Mickey, let's go to our house, and Lima, will play some games with you, it's soon your bed time anyway."

"My bedtime…!? It's only 12:30 in the afternoon!" Mickey frowned.

" Lima will play lots of games with Mickey, it'll be late by the time we stop."

"Yeah, then Lima and I can play some `Games.' "

"Well, all right, let's go!" Mickey agreed, as the small group walked off.

` SCORE!' The man exclaimed to himself.

****************************************

Ryan sighed running his hand threw his hair, the memories of Keith's words resurfacing in his head.

` Is all you remember is what Mara told you….What Parfait told you….It's all stories…'

He closed his eyes as he tried to recall the past.

` Parfait told me in that horrible black ocean nightmare that the woman in the locket was my mother….I remember when I was eleven, coming to school...I was always told I didn't remember when I first arrived because I was very sick and lost my memory.

I also remember all of the training missions Mara and I went on before that though…I mean, Mara told me about them so much that I can't possibly fail

to remember… Wait a moment… Everything I remember…Parfait or Mara was there, Parfait and Mara told me…why can't I

remember anything myself…everything before the age of eleven, is totally blank…Why can't I remember!?'

" Memories are only things that you can remember which happened, but what if you were to remember things that did not happen? Can they still be called memories?"

The area before Ryan's eyes turned dark and he stopped walking, frozen, underneath his feet were black waters, flowing all around him. The cold water washing against his ankles.

" So many people drowned, looking back at the past, so many have drowned in the waters of memory. In this ocean, as dark as coal."

The water raised until it reached his knees, he was still frozen, he wanted to move but he couldn't no matter how much he

wanted to.

" In These waters, people die and suffocate, because there memories are to haunting. Their gulit...their sins. They are dying, and all what they had to

do is step out of their waters, but all they do is stand there, waiting to drown…wanting to drown."

Ryan's eyes widened as an image flashed before his eyes.

` Alex sighed looking at the scars on his wrists. " Your lucky you know, having no past means you have nothing to haunt you, a

clean sweep for your soul."

`…..I think I understand…but my memories don't haunt me….' Ryan thought, the water was now to his waist.

" You have no memories, but they harm you because you can't remember…they harm you because they are not real…there

drowning you because they are fake…!!"

Ryan cried out as he slipped underneath the black water, but underneath the black surface he could still breath, Ruto floated in

the water in front of him, tangled by seaweed and appearing dead but her lips moved as she spoke.

" Ryan, is anything you remember real? Or is it all fake? Or maybe your not real, Ryan? Does Ryan exist?"

Suddenly Ryan's air vanished and he drowned in the black waters.

*********************************

"HEY! Throw us our ball Mr!!"

Ryan snapped out of it startled, blinking rabidly in his confusion.

"MR THROW THAT BALL!!" The cat kid screamed again.

Shaking his head, Ryan tossed the ball over to the child, and began to walk down the docks. The sun was beginning to set. He

was tired and was about to turn back when he spotted someone on the docks. He blinked a few times, not believing who it

was when he saw them. He stepped closer almost in a trance, his foot steps knocking on the wood. The figure was female,

dressed in a short yellow dress, she was staring up at the moon. He took another numb step forward, his foot breaking a

branch that was laying discarded on the dock. The girl jumped, and slowly turned her head around, to look over her shoulder.

"….Mara…."

I Thought you were gone forever,

Never destined to come back,

I missed you so very much…

The girl's eyes widened, as she put her hand to her mouth in shock, her already large eyes becoming even bigger.

"Rya?"

Everyday I would pray,

That you were all right,

That you were safe and sound,

Kept away from all danger.

Ryan could not describe exactly what he felt, but he could feel his eyes begin to water.

"Mara!" He cried, unable to move, frozen in shock and disbelief.

Why did you leave me?

Was it something I said?

If it was, I apologize,

Just never leave me again…

The cat-girls eyes also filled with tears and she leapt forward, throwing her arms around him, tears running down her face.

I loved you, I missed you,

Everyday I would…

Pray for you, dream of you,

Try and hold that image of you in my arms,

But each time you disappear from my grasping hands.

Both of them had tears rolling down their cheeks, as they hugged, laughed and cried.

"Rya! Oh, Rya, I'm so sorry, I'll never leave you again!"

"Mara! I missed you so much! I thought I would never see you again!"

I love you, I missed you,

Everyday I would…

Pray for you, dream of you,

Try and hold that image of you in my arms,

But each time you disappear from my grasping hands.

Ryan did not know how it was possible that Mara was hear, but he did not care, he was just glad she was hear, it did not

matter how she showed up. He had his best friend back, that is all what mattered right now.

Why did you leave me alone,

In this empty world to fend for myself,

Did you not care for all we had?

Friendship may not be love,

But love is friendship.

" Rya!! I couldn't bare living without you! I'm so glad to see you again! Please, Ryan forgive me for what I did!" Mara sobbed, her voice pleading.

"Mara…I forgive you, lets do our best to forget about that, lets continue on from where we left off."

Mara smiled, taking his hands in hers.

But even so, I want you to stay,

Stay with me by my side,

Please say you will,

Be with me till the very end,

My dearest beloved friend.

" Best friends, forever Ryan…Best friends, that's good enough."

I love you, I missed you,

Everyday I would…

Pray for you, dream of you,

Try and hold that image of you in my arms,

But each time you disappear from my grasping hands.

"Mara…." Ryan smiled, tears glistening in his eyes.

To see you smile,

To see you laugh,

Are the greatest gifts ever,

Please don't take them away from me again!

Ohhh!!

I love you, I missed you,

I pray for you, I dream of you…

Please never leave me again,

If this is a dream, don't wake me up,

I want to be with you again…no matter what.

"Ryan, I want to be with you forever I want to help you, I want to be near. " She held him close in an embrace, nuzzling her

neck underneath his chin, giving him a tender lick near the lips.

"Mara…I can't hold you like that, my heart belongs to Ruto, it will always be Ruto's, and I will stay true to her, no matter what." He spoke, feeling immense gulit.

Mara looked up at him and smiled eyes a little sad. " I know, Ruto holds you heart, but even so, I still love you, but I know my love brings you

grief, so I'll only love you with half my heart, and in the other half you're the best friend I've ever had. I'll hide to you and everyone the first half, and show only the second half…"

"Mara…Mara, I'm so happy to see you again!" Ryan exclaimed with a sob, holding her close to him, in a friendship embrace.

"Me too, Rya. Me Too..."

********************************

Genki sighed impatiently for the hundred time, the group had gathered at the motel, except for Lima and Ryan. It was getting

late, and some of the others had started to worry.

"….I wonder if Ryan's all right, and if Lima's ok to." Mimi frowned.

"I don't have any idea what could have happened to them, I did not hear anything going on. This is a very small village so if

Taromecika and Saiyoua's slaves attacked we would have heard something." Carrie explained.

"Well, Lima might have gotten lost, or forgot about the time, but Ryan has me stumped. He's usually not so careless." Lemon noted.

"Well, They better get hear soon, or else!" Genki grumbled.

Knock

Knock

Knock

"You were saying." Alex responded coolly.

"I'll go get the door." Mimi volunteered, getting to her feet, and turning around the corner to swing the door open.

The group was setting quietly until they heard a short startled burst of a scream, turning around startled they saw Mimi, setting

on her butt, crawling away from the door, white in the face.

"Mimi!!" Genki exclaimed, dropping on his knees next to her. " What is it? You look like you've seen a gho---" Genki stopped talking as he spotted the same thing that had worked Mimi up so much.

" WHAT THE!?!? HOW IN THE HECK!? I MEAN…HUH!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

The rest of the group approached the pale pair to see what had them so confused, each of them had different reactions.

Carrie put her hands to her face in shock, mouth hanging open and eyes wide, Squall raised his eyes brows surprised. Alex eyes narrowed into a death glare, looking ready to shoot at any moment. Lemon blinked confused, not knowing what the hell

was going on having never met the cat girl before in his life.

"Um…Guys?" Ryan asked puzzled, Mara frowned at the group as she stood beside Ryan, also puzzled by their reaction.

"Um, Ryan one question." Genki took a deep breath. " But is that, Mara, standing beside you?"

" Yes."

The group were all about to open their mouths, when Ryan hushed them with a single motion of his hand.

" It's a long story."

***************************************

"Mickey, get off to bed now. It's past your bed time." The cat man, named whisk ordered. The little boy grumbled before dragging himself up the steps.

"Ah, baby, finally it's just the two of us." Whisk commented, wrapping his arms around Lima, his hands resting on her breasts.

"…..Whisk, Lima has a game she would like to play." The elf batted her eye-lashes at him playfully.

"Ohh, what kind of game, baby?"

Lima reached into her bag, pulling out a pair of hand cuffs. Whisk purred.

"Since I saw you, I knew you were the kinky type."

"You have no idea…."

*********************************

"You see…" Mara sighed as she began to explain herself. " I let my feelings get the better of me and I betrayed you guys…I stayed with Keith for awhile but I…I couldn't forget about you guys. I knew I had made a terrible mistake…I can apologize

for it all I can but I know it wont make up for it…but…I can hope that you give me another chance. I freed myself from

Taromecika's head quarters 'Capsuel Corp', in Angeles, and I came back hear, I never thought I would see you guys again… If you don't want me back in the group though…I understand."

"Mara, I forgive you." Ryan comforted.

" Well, what you did was wrong, but everyone should be able to have a second chance." Mimi smiled.

"Just don't do anything else traitor-like and your part of the team again." Genki reasurred, but still looked a little unsure of he was making the right choice.

"…..Hn."

" Well…I can't trust you completely, but, unless you do something else wrong, I'll forgive you…" Carrie was partly frowning, not sure of what to say.

" Well this is the first time I met you, but I myself use to be evil and work for Lounaru, I became good again, so I see no reason why you can't either.I have no right to judge otherwise."

" I don't trust you, you worked for the enemy, but I don't think what I say matters much." Alex scowled, turning away.

"Then it's settled Mara, you can join us in our quest again." Ryan smiled.

Mara's face brightened and she threw her arms around him, tears in her eyes.

"Thank you everyone….Ryan, I need to tell you something about Keith, though."

"What is it?"

" I don't know what the plan is, but he's come up with some kind of plan to destroy you…be careful."

" Ok…"

"Hey…"

The group looked up startled as Squall actually spoke.

"Lima is still not back yet…maybe we should go look for her."

" Yeah, ok, let's go in pairs and search for her, Mara come with me."

The cat girl smiled happily. "Ok…"

Ryan turned to the rest of the group. " We should choose our teams wisely, if Lena and Karl are here we are in trouble."

Taking a deep breath he gave the instructions. " Mara and I will look at the beach, Mimi and Genki, look near the restaurants.

Squall and Carrie look near the houses, Lemon, Alex, look at the stores. We well meet back at the inn in an hour."

Ryan swallowed nervously. ` We got one of our members back, please, don't let us loose another one….'

***************************

"Hey, baby, these hand-cuffs are a little tight."

"Oh, really?" Their was no sweetness in Lima's voice, instead it was said rather meanly.

"Huh?"

"You've been a bad boy, It took me a while to track you down. Stealing children and shipping them off to Taromecika. Your disgusting."

"Huh? What the!? Who are you!?"

Lima's face harden. " First class officer of the Angeles protection system. Stationed in the elf village to watch for any of

Taromecika's followers or suspicious characters. Given the duty to destroy Taromecika no matter what, and recover the missing children."

"But you seemed…like a ditzy chick!!"

Lima laughed ruefully. " I'm a good actress. I may not be bright, but I am not a dumb as I pretended to be. You know when people thinks your a complete moron, they tell you more things? It's a good way

to find things out, and get your victims off guard. Now, tell me what Taromecika did to the children? You don't…and I'll Kill you."

"I…I….I….I DON'T KNOW!!!" Whisk whimpered, tears falling from his eyes.

Lima slammed her foot down on his stomach, causing him to cry out in pain. "Wrong answer, baby!!"

"Alteration!" Whisk exclaimed.

"What?"

" He uses machines and sorcerers magic to alliterate people, mostly children, but sometimes adults…heh-heh…all the

monsters…the lesser demons….all of them were children!!"

Lima eyes went wide with shock, tears instantly running down her face, remembering all the creatures she and her friends were forced to fight and sluaghter...they were all kids.. "BASTARD!!" She growled in rage, throwing her foot down on Whisk's body repeatedly, blood began to bubble threw his mouth as her foot finally went threw his stomach.

"….The children…. Were they all changed….?" Her voice trembled, pulling away from Whisk horrfide at the damage she did but he rmind was more concerned about the children.

"….!! Lima?" Mickey asked in shaky voice as he came down the staris, stopping horrifide.

"….Um…Look…Mickey. Your brother was helping Taromecika destroy the world…he killed many kids…he helped kidnap them and….I had to kill him. It was my duty."

"….I understand…Whisk always beat me…and stuff….My parents died….so he was the only one I had….but he was mad at me…and he said that soon he was going to get rid of me…that he was going to feed me to the demons…Thank you, Lima, for

saving me. But still...I....He was my brother...."

"Come hear." Lima said softly taking the little boy into her arms, allowing him to cry on her shoulder.

" Well, Well, the stupid little elf is not as stupid as she lets on."

Lima and the little boy jumped startled and both twisted around to spot Lena and Karl.

"Oh no…! Mickey…go to town, find my friends…there are eight of them, they are the only ones in this village that are not cat

people! HURRY!!"

The little cat boy dashed out of the room, leaving Lima alone to confront the two soul snatchers by herself.

" So, the elf is really an officer from Angeles. What a twist! Say, were you given android parts?"

"That is not your business, but I will destroy you in the name of the law! WATER TWISTER!!!"

*************************

The group gathered in front of the Inn, none of them had any luck.

" I hope she is ok…" Mimi said worriedly.

"…Lima…" Squall sighed. " She has to be…"

" She can't be hurt…we can't gain an member and loose one in the same day!" Ryan swore, punching the wall with his hand.

"Hey! Hey!"

They turned to see a little cat-boy running towards them.

" Are you friends of Lima!?"

The group looked surprised, nodding their heads.

"Oh! You got to help her, two bad people attacked, she's over at my house! Come!! Hurry!!"

`Lima! Hang on!' Ryan's mind screamed as the group ran after the little body.

************************

"Ack!" Lima screamed, as Karl punched her in the stomach, then knocked her over the head, sending her crashing to the floor.

" EARTHQUAKE!!!" The elf cried, summoning her magic to cause the floor to rumble and crack, throwing the soul thieves off balance.

"Ahhh!!" Lima cried, throwing herself on top of Lena, knocking the breath out of the girl, and began to punch her in the face, until her fists were covered in blood.

"Get off, tramp!!!"

"Ugh!!" Lima gasped as Karl pulled her off of Lena by the hair of the head. Sending her leg back the elf kicked him in the nuts, making him yelp in pain as he let go off her.

"THAT'S IT, I HAD IT!!!" Lena exclaimed. "Your going down!"

Lima squinted her eyes shut as a hand struck her hard against the face.

"I wont loose!" Lima growled returning the slap to Lena's face.

Karl watched, getting a nose-bleed as the girls continued to slap each other, and then begin to yank each other hair and pull and the others clothing.

"Meoowww! CAT FIGHT!!" He could not help himself from cheering and got two death glares in return.

Lena fell onto her butt as she could not handle any more slapping, Lima stared down at her dusting off her hands with a proud grin on her face.

" If you think you've won, take this!!"

Ryan and the group ran in time to see Lima's eyes widen in pain, as Lena's magic pulled her soul crystal from out of her body.

With tears shining in her eyes the elf fell to the ground in a pitiful little heap. Turning her head to her side she spotted the ground,

painfully reaching her hand out towards them, she wheezed.

"….I failed, didn't I….? Squall….everyone…I think I'm going to die….stop Taromecika….Save...all the...children..."

The group watched with wide eyes as Lima's head fell to the side, and Lena stood laughing holding the crystal in her hands.

" It's not a goddess stone, but it is really bright, to bright for a liar like her, she had you all going for a ride…ha! A dumb-elf…!! What an phony act…"

"Spidra! I summon you!!" Karl exclaimed, summoning a huge spider, well, it had the bottom of a purple spider, but the top was the head and breasts of a beautiful woman.

Ryan reached for his T.P.R.A but before he could reach it, Spidra wrapped them in thread, trapping them all together in the

white sticky substance, not allowing them to move.

" I think we won this time…" Lena smirked.

"Think again!"

"I'm out of here!" Karl exclaimed, disappearing as Lena turned around to look at Kim and Amy bitterly.

"Not you two again!!"

"BOW OF FAITH!!"

"DESTINY'S FORCE!!!"

Lena screamed, the crystal went flying from her hands, into a dark corner of the room. The group gasped in horror, what if the

crystal had shattered? Lima would be dead….forever.

Lena got to her feet growling. " You wont defeat me yet! YOU HEAR!!!"

"Ahhhhh!!" Spidra shot her sticky thread trapping Kim and Amy, who struggled to get free.

"Now…no one is left to fight." Lena smirked. "I'll kill you all in one blow!"

" SPRITS OF ICE, PLEASE, EVERYONE, ATTACK!!"

"Huh!?" Lena gasped twisting around as an attack hit her from behind. "WHOSE THERE!?"

"……………. Karl…..Karl……where is he?"

"It's the crazy girl that helped us all those times before…!" Amy whispered to Kim, surprised.

"I'm out of hear! Whoever you are! You will die next time, that is for sure! Bother us again, and you'll be sent to hell!!! Spidra take care of her!!"

The girl whipped out an T.P.R.A. and pointed it and the beast.

SPIDRA

Spidra's are spiders with the head of an beautiful woman. They shoot thread and capture their victims before injecting them

with their deadly venom. Spidra's can only be destroyed by water and ice attacks.

Spidra's are a cousin to Spilant's, but they don't have the seeds. Warning; their thread contains sleeping poison.

The girl looked around herself to see that everyone trapped in the thread was drifting off into a slumber.

"Hmmm….ICE FLOOR!" Throwing her hand on the ground she turned the floor under the Spidra's feet to ice, causing it to

slip every time it tried to walk. Dashing over to Lima, she took the soul crystal out of a pouch she wore around her body, and

placed it back inside the Lima's body.

The elf groaned as she opened her eyes, spotting a figure dressed in a gray cape, the face covered she gasped startled, as she

pulled away.

" Use you water powers…" The hooded figure instructed.

Lima blinked then looked over at the monster and at her friends who were asleep in the poison thread.

"Ok! WATER WAVE!!!"

A wave of water struck the Spilant, causing it to cry out in pain, slowly the ice beneath it's feet began to freeze it's wet body

and it turned completely into ice. The sticky white thread that trapped her friends vanished as the beast that had made it slowly died. Lima starred stunned for a moment

before turning around to face the hooded girl but she was gone.

"Wait!" She called, but she received no answer.

*************************************

" Ryan…."

"Ruto…Where are you?" Ryan opened his eyes but all her could see was blackness, the only thing he could sense was the

voices.

" Is Ryan, Ryan?"

"Key?"

" Is Ryan alive? Is Ryan dead? Is Ryan real?"

"Saiyoua!!"

" Ryan Is Ryan…?"

" Ryan died."

" Ryan is dead."

" Ryan is alive"

" Alive to some, dead to others…"

" Dead to everyone…"

"Dead is when you can't feel, Ryan feels."

" He feels, but Ryan don't."

" Ryan's a fake."

"Fake memories, a fake life."

" If something fake is believed, then to those who believe it, it's real."

" How can something fake be real?"

" How can something real be fake?"

"How can, Ryan be Ryan, when Ryan is dead?"

"But then again, Ryan is alive…"

"Ryan is alive."

"But Ryan will die."

" I thought Ryan was already dead."

" HE is not dead, but HE is dead."

"I get it now…"

" Ryan is both…dead and alive…but he not Ryan is he?"

"He is…"

"He is not."

" He could be neither."

"Ryan are you alive?"

The three voices Ruto, Key and Saiyoua echoed around him before his senses were devoured by a bright light.

************************************

"He's waking up!"

Ryan opened his eyes to see his friends staring down at him worriedly.

" Rya! Your all right!" Mara exclaimed, throwing her arms around him, eyes shimmering with tears of worry and relief.

" What happened?" He asked groggily, his head was killing him.

"We were put to sleep by Spidra's poison." Carrie explained. "But for the rest of the story, I think we should ask Lima."

The group turned towards the elf who sat with her back turned to them, her foot shuffling on the floor.

"All right Lima, tell us the whole story, Mickey told us what happened in that house before Lena and Karl came, speak up." Squall demanded.

Lima turned towards them with a hard frown on her face.

"Lesson, DOG boy, don't order me around like I'm a little push over!" Lima snarled, causing the whole group to back up shocked.

"What's with her and Pai-Pai in changing personalities?" Genki muttered, the elf narrowed her eyes at him.

"I....I'm sorry, Squall. I....I just...I just did not want you guys to find out. Pai-Pai and I...

we were friends, but also partners on Angeles police force and I do miss her, a lot. She saved my life a few times…and it was because of me she got fired from the police force.

When you told me she died…I was sad, because I know it's kind of my fault...that's why I accepted the orb. I put on the act that I was dummer then I really was because I sensed you guys knew about Taromecika, so I put on

the dumb-blonde act all this time so I could get information out of you, I found out quite a bit, I couldn't find out from the occult

books I read. I put on the act, because no one would really tell a stranger a big pile of things, when they feared the person

could repeat, but when you guys thought I was so dumb you guys never tried to hide anything from me. Just like Whisk, if I

acted smart then I would never had gotten close enough to kill him...I don't like killing...but it's the law. I sent Pai-Pai a letter, telling her I was going to vist her because I was home in Ellen woods visting before continueing on the mission to find the missing kids. I guess it was faith otherwise I would never have been able to join up with all of you. I'm sorry I lied...I just...I just thought you woulden't accept a cop."

The group stared at each other in shock, exchanging expressions of disbelief.

"Then the stuff about having a crush on me?" Squall asked, an little curiosity.

Lima blushed, looking slightly down at her feet. " Well, I did have a crush on you…I guess I still have a little one...even if you are....gay. I was hopeing that maybe I could get you interested in me and all....ummmm...I'm blushing...I'll shut up now."

"Did you find out anything about the children.?" Ryan demanded to know, Parfait's face entering his mind.

The elf looked down, with an painful expression at the floor.

"Lima, what is it?" Mimi asked concerned, kneeling down next to her.

"All the monsters that we faced…." Lima looked hard into Ryan's eyes. " Were children…alliterated by Taromecika's

sorceress."

The whole group gasped in horror, turning white in the face; all the time they were thinking they killing evil monsters of Taromecika, they were killing children. ...

Ryan felt numb all over and slowly wheezed on the name. " Parfait…" before falling to his knees, tears burning in his eyes.

"I'm sorry I and the whole Elf village fooled you into thinking I was stupid. I see you are good people, and I wont fool you

anymore. I want to get revenge on Taromecika for what he did to those kids! Genki, by the way, you sister Bra sent me, she

told me if I met you, to tell you `Hi' and to make sure you change your underwear."

Genki blushed, eyes turning big with embarrassment.

"Hey, Lima?"

"Yeah, Lemon?"

"Two questions! Are you going to continue with the dumb girl personality?"

"...No...well...to tell you the truth....I was as dumb as I let on at one time...but no...I know I'm still kind of dumb but not has stupid as I was letting on to be before."

"Ok, then, answer me this, since you'll telling us all this stuff about yourself, can you tell us how you can be so slim but weigh so much!?"

Lima laughed lightly.. " I have Android implants. You see my left arm, and my two legs aren't real, they are android parts. Bra installed

them so I could have more strength Incase my magic ever failed me in battle. I got them willingly...after...Pai-Pai was fired. I did not get them for the strength...but to make me smarter by intalling a chip inside of my brain. Because, as I said before at one time I was as stupid as I let on...and that...that was....ever mind. Yeah, I'm part machine."

The group groaned, shaking their heads.

"No wonder when I had to carry her over the wall my back was breaking." Lemon mumbled .

" Bra…I hope she's all right…" Genki said worriedly, voice barely above a whisper.

Ryan took an glance at Alex, whom seemed to be stareing at the elf, an almost...disgusted, hateful...and maybe even...fearful look in his eyes. Why....? He guessed that even if he asked the soilder would not anwser him anyway.

" We have to keep going on. We are getting closer to Angeles, lets move, before anymore children must die." Lima looked

toward the stars, tears still shining in her eyes.

` Parfait…I'm sorry." Ryan apologized bowing his head low, tears rolling down his cheeks. ` I tried…'

********************************

"I can't believe you failed again!!" Taromecika snarled sending a slap to Lena face, sending the girl reeling backward.

"I'm sorry…!!"

Beside her Karl stood trembling, beads of sweat falling from his brow.

"One last chance, fail me one more time, and die."

"Yes…Master."

`…Hmmm, they wont succeed. Ryan…they wont be able to kill you, that pleasure is reserved for me.' Keith chuckled before

he walked back into the shadows.