Tales Of Eternia Fan Fiction ❯ Tales of Memories ❯ Awaken ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Star lazily watched the slightly cloudy sky just hovering over her. The red haired female enjoyed getting away from the world around her and just dreaming of what could be beyond the clouds.

"What the hell are you doing up here?" a voice asked the lazy red head, sounding very angry and annoyed.

Quickly being brought back to reality, Star sat up so quickly, she almost head butted the blades of the windmill in front of her. She took a deep breath, having to calm herself some what before she looked over her shoulder to see one of her dear friends looming over her.

Star smiled weakly, trying to look as inocent as possible. Clearly, she was hoping by all means that her friend wouldn't pound the stuffing out of her.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter now..." she said weakly as she moved carefully over the rooftop towards Star and sat down next to her, "When you suddenly disappeared, I guessed that you were up here.".

"How did you know I was going to be up here, Fuz?" Star asked her friend weakly, using her friend's nick name, not her real name.

Fuz didn't respond at first, she began to dig into her side pack. She pulled out two piece of bread, and handed one over to Star. "You love the sky so much." Fuz replied before she took a bite of her own piece of bread, "It would almost be strange if you weren't up here.".

Star smiled weakly, glad that she had such good friends like Fuz. She then took a bite of her own piece of bread, it was slightly hard, most likly not fresh either. Left overs.

"What did the owner of the inn have you guys doing?" Star asked weakly, after she had finished forcing down the hard lump of bread stuck in her throat.

"The usual, cleaning rooms, doing dishes, cleaning this, doing that." Fuz replied with a smile, "Nothing we couldn't handle ourselves, so don't worry about it so much.".

"That's right." Star said seeming slightly surprised, and disappointed in herself at the same time, "Where is Eclipse anyways?".

Fuz, having a large amount of the bread in her mouth at the time, simply motioned towards the inside of the inn.

Star scowled weakly, not very pleased with Fuz's games. "Well I guessed he was somewhere in the inn!" she said bitterly.

Fuz laughed weakly when she saw how Star responded to her answer. "I think he said something about 'talking' to the chef about getting us something other then table scraps." Fuz said with a smile.

Star smiled as she looked down at the dirt roads below them, that doubled as the town's streets. Everyone walked along so peacefully now, even though there was the threat of the wind summon spirit not very long ago, even though it ended being a random monster just pretending to be the summon spirit.

Asgard

In a way, Star had wishing to be born here. Even though it seemed like poor mining town to her, the wind that echoed off the mountain sides just seemed to entrance her. She deeply loved it, almost as much as the sky.

"Look at that." Fuz said as she pointed to the entrance of town, "Those look like some first class idiots.".

Star looked up, and over at what Fuz was currently pointing at. "She's bleeding..." Star said weakly as she watched the group make their way to the inn that they were currently sitting on top of, "That's nothing to laugh about.".

"Who's laughing?" Fuz said weakly with a shrug of her shoulders, "I was just pointing out that they most be idiots to get beaten so badly, and to think that perhaps a good-night rest could heal a wound like that.".

Star scowled weakly at Fuz as she got to her feet. "I need to do something." she said weakly as her red hair blew into her face, killing the whole 'serious scene' that Star was making.

Fuz laughed weakly as Star tryed to get her long hair out of her face. "You don't really need to do anything, you just want to." Fuz said weakly as she got to her feet as well and popped the rest of her bread into her mouth, "Whatever, I'll go to.".

Star smiled at her friend, even though they usually had different thoughts on things, they always seemed to work it out in the end. "Thanks, for everything." Star said with a smile.

"Why are you thanking me?" Fuz asked as she began to walk away, "I just want to see if Eclipse got the food.".

-----

Eclipse smiled as he walked down the halls, he made sure to keep to the shadows to make sure that no one could see him, nor the prize he carried with him.

"Fuz will sure be happy when she sees what I got for us." he thought to himself with a smile, imaging the look on her face when he finally found his friend.

He then paused for a moment when he suddenly saw his image of Fuz morph into a pig and begin to eat everything. He shuddered weakly, and shook his head, trying to get the bad mental images out.

Eclipse quickly turned around a corner, and came in contact with some sort of hard material, which didn't feel like the wall. Well, Eclipse would know, he seemed to have bad luck, walls were his friend.

Eclipse, thrown off balance, fell backwards. The food he carried with him fell to the ground as well. Eclipse, coming to his sences quite quickly, looked around at his misfortune, and sighed.

"Damnit, now she's going to kill me." he muttered weakly as he got to his feet and dusted off his pants. He paused for a moment when he saw something that he couldn't easily brush off of his clothes. Blood.

He uneasily looked up to see a group of six or seven staring at him. They seemed to be in a hurry, yet they had taken the time to stop and stare at him. Eclipse moved a long silver piece of his bangs out of his face and said, "I'm sorry, wasn't paying attention to where I was going.".

"Well... Kratos is alright, so everythings okay with us." a young blonde female said with a cheerful and pleasent smile, "But, are you alright?".

Eclipse paused for a moment, and looked around at the floor beneith him. "I'm alright." the silver haired thief said with a sigh, "But I won't be once she sees what I've done this time.".

"We don't have time for this." the man dressed in purple, perhaps the man called 'Kratos', groaned angerly. Eclipse then noticed that he was carrying a female in his arms, she looked to be around his age, early twenties. She was dressed in rags and covered in blood.

"You are right..." a older looking female with white hair said weakly, "We have to treat her as soon as possible...".

"What the hell did you do now!?" a voice yelled angerly down the hall of the inn at the unlucky Eclipse.

Eclipse groaned as he turned towards the direction the voice was coming from, he knew what was going to be standing there, yet he was still wasn't ready to deal with it.

"You-you idiot!" Fuz snapped angerly as she loomed over Eclipse, looking like she could strangle him at any moment, "We havn't had a decent meal in weeks! You're able to steal us some good food and you freaking drop it!".

Eclipse coughed weakly and gestured over at the 'other ears' who could easily hear that Eclipse had stolen the food that lay around his feet.

"This won't end well... will it." Fuz muttered weakly, loud enough only Eclipse and Star could hear her.

"I don't care, I'm going to help!" Star said loud and clear, she didn't really seem to care of the other group of people heard her or not, "It's my duty as a healer.".

"You just gave yourself that title two seconds ago." Fuz said, sounding quite annoyed with Star 'I have to help' attitude, "So I don't think it counts.".

"But I can't just let a innocent person die!" Star moaned weakly, "I at least have to do something, or it'll kill me.".

"Well guess what, your going to die then." Fuz said bitterly with a roll of her eyes.

"You know that your viewers are slowly leaving?" Eclipse inputted weakly, hoping that Fuz wouldn't bite his head off for speaking up as she fought with the kind and gental Star.

Fuz spun around to see that Eclipse was completly true, the man dressed in purple and the woman dressed in orange had disappeared. Although the other four still stood there, staring and looking lost and puzzeled at the same time.

"No, they're already gone!" Star cryed as she looked around the hall, trying to see if she could tell which way the might have gone.

Eclipse pointed downwards at the droplets of blood on the floor, and said, "It might be wise just to follow those, if you want to help so badly.".

Star nodded weakly, looking slightly disappointed that she didn't notice the blood trail herself. She then darted down the hallway after the two, and the bleeding girl.

"This is so freaking stupid." Fuz said angerly as she kicked a random piece of food with her foot, "None of this would have happened if it wasn't for this stupid idiots.".

"Hey, it's not really nice to say stuff like that when we can hear you." the male dressed in red said angerly.

"What, you'd rather me talk about you behind your back then?" Fuz asked, trying to sound as innocent as she could muster at the moment.

The male dressed in red, looked like he didn't really know how to respond to that one.

Eclipse rolled his eyes, it was clear that Fuz was going to try to piss off at least one the people from this group so she wouldn't be the only one in a bad mood. "Grow up, would you." he muttered bitterly as he followed after Star, not wanting to be put on the same level as Fuz.

"What did you just say to me!" Fuz yelled after Eclipse, "Listen to me when I'm talking to you!".

-----

"I'm sorry about my friend... she's a bit of a self-centered ego-maniac... but she is really a good person at heart." Star said weakly as she stared at the floor, "I'm skilled in healing arts, so I wanted to help your friend as much as I could.".

The white hair woman dressed in orange looked over at the man. The look on her face said something along the line of, 'We could use all the help we can get.'.

"Alright... just do whatever Raine tells you to do." the man dressed in purple said weakly.

"Thank you so much, Raine and...!" Star said, but remembered that she didn't know both of their names. She felt slightly stupid about the foolish mistake and kept staring at the floor. She then knew that it would be better to help, then to keep 'crying over spilt milk'.

It was slightly odd, yet not. Working with Raine, was almost like working with the older sister Star had never had. Raine, was a full blooded elf with healing arts much like her own. Star was glad to say that she was honoured to work along side a full blooded elf, seeming how she was actually half elf.

Yet Raine looked slightly uneasy when Star told her that she was half elf, and proud to work beside her.

The man dressed in purple, whom Star later found out was Kratos the mercenary, basicly remanded quiet. He just watched and listened to Raine and Star's chatter as they helped the mysterious girl.

Whom, Raine and Kratos didn't even know. They had supposedly ran into the girl, she ended up helping them and got hurt for doing so. Star couldn't really think of why, but she felt that they were some importanent details left out of their story.

Yet, she wasn't really in the place to question them.

"There... I think that's the best we can do for now..." Professer Raine said weakly, "The rest is up to how much she wants to hang on.".

"I'm glad to have been of some sort of help." Star said with a smile, "Your very talented Professer Raine, it was really a honour.".

"... Perhaps it would be best if you get going, I'm sure your friends are waiting for you." Raine said with a weak smile.

"I guess you are right, Fuz has most likly cooled down by now." Star said as she walked over to the door, "I hope your friend gets better soon...".

"Thank you... and good-bye." Raine said weakly as she watched Star exit the room. After she left, she let out a long awaited sigh.

"Hey." a voice said to Star almost right after she had closed the door to Raine and her group's room. Star turned to see that Eclipse was waiting for her, just sitting on the other side of the hallway.

"Hi, were you waiting for me all this time?" she asked her friend weakly, wondering how long he had just been sitting there.

"It's alright, it wasn't that long." Eclipse answered weakly with a smile, "I'd much rather wait here then be around Fuz when she's in a rage.".

"But she's a good person..." Star said weakly, clearly coming to Fuz's defences, "No matter what she does, she always as a kind heart, somewhere.".

"I guess your right." Eclipse said weakly as he pushed his long silver bangs out of his face.

"She's a good enough friend, that she'd die to protect one of us." Star said, her hands became fists, and she looked really energized.

"I don't know if I'd go that far." Eclipse laughed weakly, seeing Star like this was slightly odd. So happy and full of energy, she only seemed to be like that when they were travelling on a bright and sunny day.

Eclipse hung his head slightly and stared blankly at the floor of the hallway. "I guess I don't know Fuz, or Star at that matter, as well as I thought I did." he thought to himself with a weak sigh.

"Is something wrong, Eclipse...?" Star asked him weakly, quickly noticing that he looked sadden by something.

"No, I'm alright." Eclipse lied as he looked up into the worried eyes of his friend. He then stood up and began to walk down the hallway, without another word.

Star was silent for a moment, and watched the silver hair thief walk down that hallway. She felt alone, like he was leaving her there. Star sighed, and shook the feeling off.

"I have two great friends, there is no reason to think I'm alone." Star thought to herself as she ran down the hall after Eclipse.

-----

"I guess I should go see where the others got to..." Kratos said weakly to Raine as he got to his feet.

He didn't know how long he had been at the strange girl's bed side. Even though Raine had said there was nothing else she, or the other girl, could do, Raine still remained here. It almost felt like he should be here too.

He groaned weakly, for he couldn't understand why he felt that way.

"That might be a good idea..." Raine said with a weak smile, "Since we seemed to have lost them after the encounter with that strange band of theives.".

Kratos nodded weakly and glanced over at the girl again. Her face was now winced in pain, just a few moments ago it seemed like she was no longer in any sort of pain.

Kratos paused, and knew that he couldn't just stay here forever, watching her every change in condition like this. So he turned and walked towards the door of their room.

"Don't worry about a thing." Raine said to the mercenary as he exitted the room, "I'll be watching over her while you're gone.".

Before Kratos closed the door behind him, he could faintly make out words spoken by the girl, "Father, don't leave me here...".

Kratos closed the door and weakly sighed. Raine seemed to be able to tell that he was worried about the mysterous girl that they had met at the human ranch. It was his blade that struck her down, that was why he felt that he was at fault.

Wasn't it?

The mercenary groaned as he rubbed his forehead, now wasn't the time to think of such things. His goal at the moment was to find the others, where ever they might be currently.

Kratos then started his way down the hallway, looking for any sign that might lead him to where the others currently were.

Truthfully, he could use all the help he could get. He had no idea where they might have wandered off to, for all he knew, they weren't even in the inn anymore.

He groaned weakly, when he came to the conclusion, that this was going to be a long game of hide and seek.

-----

Aireth groaned weakly as she sat up. She rubbed her eyes weakly, her body hurt all over. Once her mind was clear, she looked around. The sight around her was a huge shook.

It was still there, the darkness that had surrounded her for so long.

She shuddered weakly, feeling extremly uneasy. Wasn't it supposed to be gone now. Wasn't Kvar died, wasn't she free to die.

Aireth hung her head and looked at the darkness that hide her lower body. No matter where she looked, it was still there. It was the same, no light, no sight, nothing. It was like it enveloped everything.

Aireth closed her eyes, and wished that death wasn't so cold and dark. She had always hoped and dreamed to go to a better place, where her family waited for her.

Yet this was nothing like that. It was more like a horrible nightmare that would not leave Aireth be.

Even in her death, her eternal slumber, it was still there.

Aireth opened her eyes and looked up, she, excepting to see the darkness was quite surprised.

There, stood her father. Tall and proud, his hair covered his face and his clothes were covered in dirt and blood. He was looking down at Aireth, with a smile on his face.

He then extended his hand to her, offering to help Aireth to her feet.

She smiled weakly, and took his offer. His hand, held on to her's so firmly. It was just like she remembered.

The father that always helped her when she was down. She had always thought that he'd never leave her, forget about her. But in the end, she was wrong, he could forget about her.

Her father smiled, looking glad to see that Aireth was alright. Without a word he darted away into the darkness surrounding the two of them.

It took Aireth a moment to notice what was going on. "Father, don't leave me here!" she cryed as she chased away him.

Tears began to sting her eyes when she noticed that he was only getting farther and farther away. He had forgotten her once again, left her here with the darkness.

The tears began to roll down her face, she couldn't help it. Her father, gone again.

"He forgot about you, so what makes now any different!?" Kvar's words rang through her heard like church bells to a sinner.

"That's right, he forgot about me..." Aireth muttered weakly as she fell to her knees, "They all did.".

Aireth stared at the ground, it was slightly different then usual. Now, it seemed to contain a thurst for blood.

A large pain struck her in the chest, and Aireth quickly clutched the area filled with pain tightly. She could feel the exsphere there, put yet there was something else covering it. She removed her shaking hand to see that her hand was covered in blood.

It was hers... from the wound she recieved at the human ranch, it had to be. Yet why would someone bleed during death, or hurt so much for that matter?

"Feed"

"What... was that." Aireth muttered weakly, as she looked around to try to figure out what or who had spoken.

"Feed"

Aireth's eyes opened slowly, she didn't really understand what was going on. Wasn't she dead, or was it simply a dream of the darkness that still loams in her heart?

Aireth scanned the roof above her, she couldn't really think of much to say about it. It was a roof, it provented her from getting wet from the rain, so she was happy with it.

Aireth weakly tryed to sit up, even though the pain in her chest had doubled from that of the dream. She didn't make it all the way, before giving up to the pain, and falling back on to the bed.

She was clearly quite angry, seeming how the roof wasn't the most entertaining thing around. It was almost more boring then the darkness was, at least with the darkness, one could think of what else hides with in it. With a roof, it was a roof.

"So, you're awake." a voice said, sounding like a burden had just been lifted from her shoulders, "That's good to see.".

Aireth, this time more intent on sitting up, sat upwards to see whom was actually speaking to her. She was slightly surprised to see the white haired woman from back at the human ranch.

"Why did you help me?!" Aireth asked weakly, trying to sound as angry as she could in this state.

"Simply because we wanted to, do you need a better reason then that." the white haired woman said with a weak smile.

"We..." Aireth looked around the room weakly, trying to find the other forms of life, "But you're the only one here.".

The woman with white haired laughed weakly before replying, "Narrow minded, aren't you. We all wanted to help you, but I'm the only one that could help you in the state you were in.".

Aireth paused, and hung her head slightly. It was slightly foolish to say something like that. The woman was travelling with others, so perhaps they were worried about her well being as well.

"Thank you..." Aireth said weakly, although she truly didn't want her, or anyone else's help.

"It's nothing, really." the woman said with a smile, "I'm Professer Raine, it's a pleasure to meet you.".

Aireth was silent for a moment. Professer, didn't really seem like that 'important' of a title, yet Aireth felt like she was suddenly in the persence of royality. Although, the feeling didn't last long, simply because it sank in that 'Professer' was just a title.

"It's nice to meet you as well Professer." Aireth said weakly, although she didn't really know how true it was, "I am Aireth.".

"Aireth... not to be rude, but that's a slightly odd name." Raine stated weakly.

"My father gave it to me..." Aireth said with a painful shrug of her shoulders, "Other then that, it's my name.".

"... You must be hungry, would you like something to eat?" the Professer asked as she got up, completly trying to changing the subject.

Aireth was silent for a long time, completly aware of the subject change. "Yes, I havn't had any 'food' for years." Aireth said weakly as she thought of the 'food' that she recieved while she had lived at the human ranch.

"Alright, you wait here, I'll get you something." Raine said with a smile as she walked over to the door. Aireth watched the Professer wave and close the door behind her.

Now she was alone in this room.

Aireth sighed weakly, at least it wasn't like the chamber Kvar had kept her in. "I shouldn't trouble them anymore..." Aireth said weakly as she moved her legs over the edge of the bed.

She then took a deep breath, clearly not completly trusting her legs, and stood up.

Aireth paused for a moment before finally noticing, that she was standing, not falling. With that, Aireth began to move about the room, as 'practise'. It felt slightly odd to her, being able to move around, completly by her own free will.

Kvar was no longer there. She was free!

Aireth let out a loud cheer of joy, it had finally happened. "Yes, he's gone, I'm free." Aireth cheered again as she randomly bounded around the room.

Mid-bounce on the bed that Aireth had just been resting in, her mood quickly changed. "But yet, what am I supposed to do now..." Aireth said weakly as she sat down on the bed, "I don't want to trouble these people anymore...".

She was free, yet she had no where to go.

Aireth hugged her knees tightly, and stared at the wall in front of her. She was still lost, in a world that she hadn't roamed in since she was young.

It seemed like everything was new to her again, like she was just the little girl that she once was before the events with Kvar took place.

Aireth jumped with surprise when she heard the door to the room begin to open, and multiple voices coming from the other side of the door. She didn't really know what to do, should she return to her place benieth the covers of the bed, or just remain there.

She decided that perhaps it would just be best to stay where she was, it wasn't like the pain in her chest had gone away or anything, she was just trying to ignore the pain.

The door opened, and there stood the five other people of the group. They all seemed slight surprised to see Aireth just sitting on the bed staring back at them.

"Yay, a big group of complete strangers." Aireth thought to herself bitterly.

She paused, and quickly scanned them over once again. Male dressed in purple, little white haired boy, blonde female, oddly dressed female, and the male dressed in red, who looked like he was roughed up badly by someone or something.

"I still can't believe you got beaten so badly by a girl." the white haired boy said to the male dressed in red, seeming to have put a side the 'surprise' that Aireth was up and well.

"Shut up Genis." the male in red said angerly as he sat down in a near by chair.

"Are you sure you're alright Lloyd..." the blonde asked weakly, sounding quite concerned, "It looked like she hurt you pretty badly.".

"Don't mind them... they're only children." the man dressed in purple said weakly to Aireth, who didn't notice him walk over to her bed side.

Aireth looked up at him for a moment, before she looked back over at the two poking fun at the male dressed in red, Lloyd. "You're only a kid for so long, it's better to enjoy it while you can." Aireth replied weakly.

She didn't know how clear it was to see that she was jealous of them. They were young, they had friends, they had lives. Aireth had missed so much, lost so much, she had no idea where to begin.

"Are you alright?" the female with black hair asked with a smile, she didn't really seem to be interested in the conversation the others were currently having.

"I'm fine now..." Aireth said weakly, which wasn't a complete lie, her chest only hurt, "Thanks for worrying about me.".

Aireth, again centered her attention on the three. She couldn't really help it. She wished for friends, for a child hood even.

"What are they talking about?" Aireth asked weakly, not really thinking about it before saying it.

"Oh... Lloyd got in a fight with some pink haired thief." the woman dressed in odd clothes said weakly, "She ended up kicking his butt.".

Aireth smiled weakly, and fought back a laugh. She couldn't help but image a little pink haired kid kicking the male named Lloyd in the knee cap. Even though it was most likly, not what really happened. She was enjoying herself.

Aireth heard the male dressed in purple groan weakly, he clearly didn't seem very pleased that Lloyd was beaten.

"That pink terror... I'll beat her yet." Lloyd snapped angerly from the other side of the room.

The white haired boy named Genis began to laugh at Lloyd's reaction. Aireth too, thought it was slightly funny how childish he was acting. Yet, he was only a teenager, he was still free to grow.

The door to the room opened once again, and Aireth saw that Professer Raine had returned with food. Raine, looked slightly surprised to see everyone back before herself.

"Professer, your back!" Lloyd said with a smile, quickly getting up to help Raine with the food she was carrying.

"Guess what Raine." the boy named Genis said to the Professer with a smile on his face, "Lloyd got beaten by a girl.".

"Shut up, Genis!" Lloyd snapped angerly, clearly not enjoying the torture anymore.

"Aireth, how are you doing." the Professer asked weakly as she walked over to Aireth's bed.

She smiled weakly and said to the Professer, "I'm doing quite fine really, my chest just aches where my exsphere is.".

"That's good to hear, it would seem that you've gotten yourself out of bed..." Raine said with a weak laugh.

"But really, as long as the darkness doesn't follow me, I'm alright." Aireth whispered weakly so that no one could hear her, "Pain or no pain.".

~End of Chapter 1

AN: I feel so bad about making Fuz such a... brat? More of my original characters introduced in this chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, which I worked/finished while my e-net was down.